Cook's Handbook For Egypt and The Egyptian Sudan - Budge - E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis) - Sir - 1857-1934

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COOK’S HANDBOOK
FOR
EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN

SUDAN.
BY
E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A., Litt.D., D.Litt., D.Lit., F.S.A.,

KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM.
THIRD EDITION.
.
London
THOS. COOK & SON, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E.C.
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD.
rCMRO Near Shepheard’s Hotel.
:
OFFICES OF Alexandria Place Mohamet Ali. :
THOS. COOK & SON-< Port Said Near Continental Hotel.

:
(EGYPT), LIMITED: Assouan, Halfa, Ismailia, Khartoum

. Luxor, etc.
191 1.
HARRISON AND SONS,
PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY,
ST. MARTIN’S LANE, LONDON, W.C,
\0 ~<VO
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
In the year 1886 my friend, the late Mr. J. M. Cook, asked

me to write a short guide to the principal Egyptian monu-
ments on the Nile so far south as the Second Cataract,
usually visited by tourists who travelled on the Nile under
arrangements made by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son during
a brief stay in Egypt. Following the general suggestions
wdiich he made, I prepared a short guide, and this appeared
in the form of a small octavo volume entitled The Nile
Notes for Travellers. This little work dealt exclusively with
the principal objects of interest on the Nile, between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Wadi Halfah, and, as it made no
pretence to describe the country as a whole, it in no way
laid claim to be a Guide to Egypt. The progress of
archaeological research in Egypt, and the rapid development
of the country, made it necessary to enlarge, from time to
time, the Notes for Travellers which I had written, and at
length, in its Eleventh Edition, The Nile fills 976 pages.

Now, in spite of this, there remained a great deal of informa-
tion of all kinds about places and monuments off the beaten
track which could not be compressed into the volume, and
Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son therefore decided to issue a new
Handbook for Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan ,
and to add
numerous plans, new maps, etc. The carrying out of this
decision was entrusted to my hands, and the present volume
is the result.
In preparing this Handbook I have endeavoured to include
the principal facts relating to all the ancient monuments of
a 2
IV PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
Egypt and the Nile Valley which the tourist visits between the
Mediterranean Sea and Khartum, adding, where necessary,
brief descriptive paragraphs, chiefly of a historical character.
In the Introduction will be found a series of hints of a
practical nature, which have been drawn up as the result of
much experience by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son and others,
and it is hoped that they will be as useful to tourists in the

future as they have been in the past. Travellers in Egypt
owe the ease and comfort which they now enjoy in journeying
through the country entirely to the efforts of Messrs. Thomas
Cook and Son, who were the first to organize the tourist
system, and to make Egypt and its wonderful antiquities
accessible to all classes. They have spared neither pains nor
money in perfecting their arrangements for tourists, and their
officers are ever watchful to place promptly at the disposal of

those who travel under their care the advantages of rapid and
comfortable transit which are becoming more and more
numerous owing to the steady development of the country
under British influence. The experience of their officials is
unrivalled, and the advice which they supply freely on all
questions concerning travel most valuable.

This Handbook is divided into four parts. Part I contains
a series of chapters in which a connected outline of the
history of Egypt is given, and brief accounts of the writing,
religion, art, architecture, learning, etc., of the Ancient

Egyptians have been added ; a number of important facts
about the religion, architecture, &c., of the Muhammadans, or
Modern Egyptians, have also been included. Hieroglyphic type
has been used wherever necessary, and in the list of cartouches
of Egyptian kings care has been taken to give all the names
which are commonly found on scarabs, as well as those of the
Ptolemies and Roman Emperors, of whom so many memorials
are seen in Upper Egypt. Those who are interested in the
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. V
modern regeneration and development of Egypt may find useful
the accounts of British financial policy in Egypt and of the

great irrigation and other works which have been carried out
m the Delta and at Asyut, Esna, and Aswan during recent

years. Parts II-IV consist of descriptions of all the principal
places in the Delta, and in the Nile Valley, and in the
Peninsula of Sinai, where monuments of the ancient civiliza-
tion of Egypt are found. A brief sketch of the course of

the Nile from Khartum to the Equatorial Lakes has also
been given.
Eor information concerning the modern condition of Egypt
I have great pleasure in acknowledging my obligation to the
masterly Reports of Lord Cromer and Sir Eldon Gorst, and

all the facts given about irrigation schemes for Egypt and the
Stidan are derived from the Reports of Sir William Garstin
and other well-known authorities. Many facts about the
Nile are derived from the publications of Captain H. G.
Lyons, r.e., which contain clear and accurate descriptions
of the Nile Valley, and of the great river of Egypt from its
source, Lake Victoria, to the sea. From two papers most

kindly sent to me by the late Sir John Aird I have obtained
the facts concerning the Aswan Dam and Asyut Barrage
printed in this book. I am also indebted to the works of
Sir Reginald Wingate, Sir Rudolf von Slatin Pasha, Father
Ohrwalder, Mr. Charles Royle, and to many reports and
maps of the British and Egyptian War Offices for details
concerning Mahdiism and the campaigns which resulted in

the reconquest of the Sudan. In matters connected with
the history of Cairo and of its mosques, and with the
manners and customs of its Muhammadan population from the
time of its conquest to about 1870, I have relied upon the
excellent works of the late Edward Lane, and of the eminent
Arabic scholar, Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole.
VI PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
In this edition are given a number of important facts con-

cerning the modern history of the Egyptian Stidan, together
with many details concerning the peoples and towns of this
vast country ;
many of these are based upon information
obtained from Count Gleichen’s “The Anglo-Egyptian Stidan,”
2nd edition, London, 1905. I have also derived many facts
from Naum Shoucair Bey’s “ History of the Sudan ” (in
Arabic), and have drawn others from my work, “ The Egyptian

Sftdan,” 2 vols., London, 1907. During recent years the
development of Egypt and the Egyptian Sftdan has progressed
with such great rapidity, and the exertions of archaeologists
have produced such remarkable additions to our knowledge of
the past history of the countries, that merely to describe them
briefly has made it necessary to add largely to this the Third
Edition of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son’s Handbook for Egypt
and the Egyptian Sudan.
The plans and illustrations given throughout this Handbook
are derived from authoritative sources, among which may be
mentioned the works of Coste, Prisse d’Avennes, Lepsius,
Howard Vyse, Mariette, J. de Morgan, the Memoirs published
by the French Archaeological Mission in Cairo, the Description
de VEgypte the Survey published by the Palestine Exploration

, ,
Fund, etc.
My thanks are due to Messrs. Harrison & Sons for the

care which they have bestowed upon the printing of this work,
and to their employes, Mr. L. Lovett and Mr. F. W. Trollet.
With the permission of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son I
have reprinted from The Nile the chapter on the Arabs and
Muhammad the Prophet, and portions of descriptions of
monuments which it was unnecessary to re-write.
E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.
British Museum,
July 10, 19 1 1.
CONTENTS.
+
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
Practical Information for Travellers ... ... ... ... ... i
Length of Visit ... ... ... ... ... ... ... i
Parties ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2

Cost of Tour... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2
Circular Notes and Money ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
Money ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
Egyptian Money ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5
Weights and Measures ... ... ... ... ... ... 6
Egyptian and English Money ... .. ... ... ... 7
English and EgyptianMoney ... ... ... ... ... 8
Egyptian and French Money ... ... ... ... ... 9
Thermometric Scales ... ... ... ... ... ... 10
Latitude and Longitude ... ... ... ... ... ... 10
Railway Time in various Countries ... ... .. ... 11
Civil Time ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12
Passports ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12
Customs ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12
Quail Shooting ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 13
Antiquities ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 13
Dress... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 13
Health and Medicine ... ... ... ... ... ... 14
Passengers’ Baggage Insurance ... ... . < . ... ... 16
Postage and Telegraphs ... ... ... ... ... ... 16
Telephones ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 17
Bakshish ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 17
Travelling Arrangements of Thomas Cook & Son ... ... 21
Hotel Coupons ... ... ... ... ... ... ...21,22
Routes to Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 23
The Journey up the Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... 24
Tickets to Visit Antiquities ... ... ... ... ... 26
The Traveller in Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... 26
PART I.
The Climate and Health Resorts of Egypt ... ... ... ... 31
Alexandria and Cairo ... ... ... ... ... ... 34
Mena House and Helwan ... ... ... ... ... • • -
35*36
Luxor and Aswan ... ... ... ••36,37
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Land of Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 39
Geology ... ... ... ... ... . , . ... ... 40
The Fayyum and Lake Moeris ... ... ... ... ... 44
The Lakes in the Delta ... ... ... ... ... ... 46
The Oases ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4
Natural History ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 49
Sudan Game Ordinance ... ... ... ... ... ... 60
Minerals ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62
Trade of Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 64
Ancient and Modern Divisions ... ... ... ... ... 66
Population ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 70
The Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 74
White Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 76
The Sadd ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 77
Blue Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 78
Cataracts ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 79
Inundation ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 82
Irrigation ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 82
Corvee ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 84
The Barrages on the Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... 88
The Barrage of A.syut ... ... ... ... ... ... 92
The Barrage at Esna ... ... ... ... ... ... 95
The Aswan Dam and Reservoir ... ... ... ... ... 98
The Ancient Egyptians and their Language ... ... ... ... 106
The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians ... ... ... ... 112
Egyptian Gods ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 124
Egyptian Language and Writing ... ... ... ... ... 133
Hymn to Ra, from the Papyrus of Ani... ... ... ... ... 144
The Learning of the Ancient Egyptians ... ... ... ... 153
A List of the Names of the Principal Egyptian Kings ... ... 184
Sketch of the History of Egypt from the Pre-Dynastic Period to
A.D. I9II 209

The Pre-Dynastic and Archaic Periods ... ... ... ... 209
Dynastic Period ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 212
The Greek Period ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 231
The Roman Period ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 234
The Byzantine Period ... ... ... ... ... ... 238
The Muhammadan Period ... ... ... ... ... ... 240
Turkish Rule in Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... 248
French Rule in Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... 249
Muhammad ‘Ali and his Family ... ... ... ... ... 250
British Rule in Egypt ... ... ... ... ... ... 254
CONTENTS. IX
PAGE
The Modern Egyptians ... ... ... . . . ... ... ... 279
Fellahin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 279
Copts.. ... 281
Badawin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 289
Nubians ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 290
Negroes ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 290
Turks... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 290
Europeans ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 290
Muhammadan Architecture and Art in Cairo ... ... ... ... 292
The Modern Egyptians — Narcotics and Amusements ... ... 313
Sketch of the History of the Arabs, and of Muhammad and his
Kur’an, Religious Beliefs, &c. ... ... ... ... ... 322
British Financial Policy in Egypt .. .. 357
Comparative Table of the Muhammadan and Christian Eras ... 365
PART II.
Alexandria, Pompey’s Pillar, the Catacombs, Abukir, Rosetta, 3 72

Alexandria ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 373
Pompey’s Pillar ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 378
The Catacombs ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 379
Abukir ... ... ... ... 384
Rosetta ... ... ... . . ... ... ... ... 385
Alexandria to Cairo ... ... ... ... ... .... ... 387
Port Sa‘id, Isma‘iliyah, Suez, and the Suez Canal ... ... ... 393
Port Sa‘id to Suez, via the Suez Canal ... ... ... ... 402
Port Sa‘id to Cairo ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 407
Succoth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 409
Kasasin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 41a
Tell al-Kabir ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 41
Cairo ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 414
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities ... ... ... ... ... 421
The Museum of Arab Art ... ... ... ... ... ... 438
Zoological Gardens ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 440
Aquarium ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 44a
The Mosques of Cairo ... ... ... ... .. ... 440
The Citadel ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 453
The Tombs of the Khalifahs and Mamluks ... ... ... 455
The Bazaars of Cairo ... ... ... ... ... ... 456
The Modern Quarters of Cairo ... ... ... ... ... 459
The Coptic Churches of Old Cairo ... ... ... ... 461
The Island of Rodah and the Nilometer ... ... ... ... 464
a 3
X CONTENTS.
Cairo continued. page

Heliopolis ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 466
Trip to the Barrage... ... ... ... ... ... ... 469
The Pyramids of Gizah 470
The Sphinx ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 479
The Temple of the Sphinx ... ... ... ... ... 480
The Pyramids of Abu Roash ... ... ... ... ... 481
The Pyramids of Abu Sir ... ... ... ... ... ... 481
The Necropolis of Sakkarah ... ... ... ... ... 484
Pyramids of Sakkarah ... ... ... ... ... ... 487
The Serapeum ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 492
Tomb of Thi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 493
Pyramids of Dahshur ... ... ... ... ... ... 495
Cairo to Damietta, via Mansurah ... ... ... ... ... 499
Cairo to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon ... ... ... ... ... 506
The Oases and Khargah ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 511
Cairo toMount Sinai ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 540
History of Sinai ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 546
Suez to the Monastery of St. Catherine, vid Wadi Magharah ... 550
Suez to the Monastery of St. Catherine, vid Tur ... ... 557
The Monastery of St. Catherine and the Holy Places of Sinai... 559
Mount Sinai to Suez via Wadi ash-Shekh and Sarabit al-Khadim 569
The Exodus ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 57
PART III.
Cairo to the Fayyum ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 583
The Fayyum and Lake Moeris ... ... ... ... ... ... 586
The Birkat al-Kurun ... ... ... ... ... ... 589
Herakleopolis ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 591
Minya ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 592
Beni-Hasan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 593
Rodah ... 597
Malawi 598
Tell al-‘Amarna ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 599
Gebel Abu Fedah , ... ... ... ... ... ... 600
Manfalut ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 600
Asyut ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 600
Tahtah ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 602
Suhag ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 602
Akhmim ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 603
Al-Manshah ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 604
CONTENTS. XI
Fayyum and Lake Moeris continued . PAGE

Girga ... . . . 604
Balyana . . . 604
Naga’ ‘ad-Der . . . 604
Abydos ... 605
The Temple of Seti I . . . 607
The Temple of Rameses II . . . 609
Abu Tisht ... 612
Farshut ... 612
Nag‘ Hamadi ... 612
Kasr as-Sayyad ... 612
Kena ... ... 612
Temple of Denderah ... 613
Kus ... 617
Nakadah ... 617
Temples and Tombs of Thebes ... 618
Luxor ... 618
The Temple of Luxor ... 625
The Temple at Karnak ... 631
The Temple of Amen at Karnak ... ... 632
The Temple of Madamut ... 643
The Temple of Kurnah ... 643
The Ramesseum ... 645
The Colossi ... 647
Madinat Habu ... 647
The Pavilion of Rameses III ... 651
The Great Temple of Rameses III ... 652
The Temple of Queen Hatshepset at Der al-Bahari ... 655
The Tomb of Hatshepset ... ... 661
The Temple of Menthu-Hetep Neb-hept-Ra ... 664
Der al-Madinat ... 670
Drah Abu’l-Nekkah .. 671
Shekh ‘Abd al-Kurnah ... 671
Tomb of Rekhmara ... 672
Tomb of Nekht .. 674
Tombs of Thebes ... 676
Kurnat Murrai ... 682
Tombs of the Queens ... 683
Tombs of the Kings... ... 684
Tomb of Thothmes I ... 68 7
Tomb of Hatshepset ... 687
Tomb of Thothmes III ... 687
Xll CONTENTS.
The Temples and Tombs of Thebes continued. page

Tomb of Amen-hetep II ... ... ... ... ... ... 687
Tomb of Thothmes IV ... ... ... ... ... ... 688
Tomb of Amen-hetep III ... ... ... ... ... ... 690
Tomb of Ai ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 690
Tomb of Rameses I... ... ... ... ... ... ... 690
Tomb of Seti I ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 690
Tomb of Rameses II ... ... ... ... ... ... 692
Tomb of Amen-meses ... ... ... ... ... ... 693
Tomb of Mer-en-Ptah (Menepthah) ... ... ... ... 693
Tomb of Seti II ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 693
Tomb of Set-nekht ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 695
Tomb of Rameses III ... ... ... ... ... ... 695
Tomb of Rameses IV ... ... ... ... ... ... 695
Tomb of Rameses VI ... ... ... ... ... ... 697
Tomb of Rameses IX ... ... ... ... ... ... 697
Tomb of Rameses X ... ... ... ... ... ... 699
Tomb of Rameses XI ... ... ... ... ... ... 699
TombofRamesesX.il ... ... ... ... ... ... 699
Tomb of Sa-Ptah ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 699
Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau ... ... ... ... .. ... 7 00
TombofThi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 706
Luxor to Aswan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 708
Gebelen ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 70S
Asna, or Esna ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 °&
Al-Kab 710
Tombs of Al-Kab ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 712
Edfu ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 * 4-
Hagar (or Gebel) Silsilah ... ... ... ... ... ... 717
Kom Ombos... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 718-
PART IV.
Aswan, the Island of Elephantine and Philae ... ... ... ... 722
The Nilometer ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 724
Tombs at Aswan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 726
Monastery of St. Simon ... ... ... ... ... ... 730
The First Cataract ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 733
Philae 735
Temples of Philae ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 740
CONTENTS. xiii
PAGE
Philie to Wadi Halfah 743
Kalabshah 747
Bet-al-Wali ... 748
Dendur 748
Dakkah 749
Kubban 75 *
Kurtah 754
Korosko 755
‘
Amadah 757
Derr 757
Abu Simbel ...
759
Faras Island .. 766
Wadi Halfah 768
The Sudan 771
Ancient History of the Sudan 771
Recent History of the Sudan 776
Provinces 780
Population ... ... ... 781
The Sudani Peoples ... 781
Religion 782
Language 782
Revenue ... 782
Slavery 783
Justice 784
Wadi Halfah to Khartum ... 786
Ilalfah-Khartiim Line 786
Halfah- Kermah Line 787
Semnah and Kummah 789
Ferket 790
Al-Hafir 792
Al-Urdi, or New Donkola... 793
Old Donkola... 793
Abu Kussi 794
Al-Dabbah ...
794
Kurta ... ... ...
794
Kwrru 795
Marawi 795
Napata 795
Gebel Barkal 796
Temples of Gebel Barkal ... 796
Nuri 799
XIV CONTENTS,
The Sudan— continued. PAGE

Karemah Line ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 800
Abu Hamad ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 803
Berber ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 804
Nile — Red Sea Railway .. ... ... ... ... ... 805
Port Sudan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 807
River Atbara ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 810
Island of Meroe ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 81
Pyramids of Meroe ... ... ... ... 815
Shendi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 823
Matammah ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 824
Temples of Nagaa ... ... ... ... ... 824
Masawwarat As-Sufrah ... ... ... ... ... ... 826
Khartum ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 829
Khartum Bridge ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 830
Gordon College ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 831
Omdurman ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 834
Khartum to Ruseres on the Blue Nile ... ... ... ... ... 839
Soba ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 839
Sennaar ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 841
Ruseres ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 842
Khartum to the Great Lakes ... ... ... ... ... ... 843
Fa-Shoda ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 845
Sobat River .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 846
Bor, or Bohr... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 849
Kir6 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 850
Lado ... . . ... . . ... ... ... 850
Gondokoro ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 850
Nimuli ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... 852
Fola Rapids 852
Dufili... 853
Albert N’yanza 853
Victoria Nile 854
Victoria N’yanza ... .. ... ... ... ... ... 855
Kena to Kuser on the Red Sea, and the Wadi Hammamat ... ... 857
Elementary Facts of Arabic Grammar ... ... ... ... ... 861
Index 886
MAPS
Egypt and Sinai [In Pocket .
Alexandria ... To face p. 372
The Suez Canal ,, 393
Cairo ... ? j 414
The Nile — Delta ... j j 372
„ Cairo to Kena ... 5 ) 583
,, Kena to Aswan ... )

612
,, Aswan .to Wadi Halfah ... ... J) 722
„ Wadi Halfah to Khartum ... ,, 786

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Egyptian Moneys ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5, 6
Railway Times ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... n
Picture of an Ancient Egyptian Shaduf being worked by a Fellah ... 53
Modern Shadufs ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 54
Modern Water-wheel ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 55
The Barrage at Asyut ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 93
The Dam at Aswan at Low Nile ... ... ... ... ... 100
The Dam at Aswan at High Nile ... ... ... ... ... 101
Forms of Egyptian Gods ... ... ... ... ... 129-132
Entrance to an Early Tomb ... ... ... ... ... ... 164
Pyramid Tomb with Funeral Chapel ... ... ... ... ... 164
Plan of a Pyramid Tomb, with Vestibule, or Funeral Chapel, and
Corridor, the whole enclosed by a Wall ... ... ... ... 165
Pyramid Tomb with Funeral Chapel (the core of the pyramid is built
of rubble) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 166
Section of the Tomb of Seti I, showing how the Corridors and
Chambers enter and descend into the Mountain ... ... ... 167
Front of a Temple, showing Poles with Flags flying from them ... 169
A Group of Female Musicians ... ... ... ... ... ... 170
Upper Part of a Pillar with ornate Lotus Capital ... ... ... 172
Upper Part of a Pillar of Rameses II, with Palm Capital and square
Abacus ... .*. ... ... ... ... ... ... 173
Pillar with Hathor-headed Capital, set up by Amen-hetep III ... 174
Pillar with Hathor-headed Capital, of the Ptolemaic Period ... ... 174
Plain Palm-leaf Capital of a Pillar, with square Abacus ... ... 175
Ornate Palm-leaf Capital of a Pillar, with square Abacus ... 176, 1 77
Capital of a Pillar with inverted Ornamentation ... ... ... 177
Hathor-headed Capital ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 177
Pillar with Lotus-bud Capital ... ... ... ... ... ... 178
The Mosque of Sultan Hasan ... ... ... ... ... ... 295
Section of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan ... ... ... ... 296
The Mosque of Al-Mu‘ayyad ... ... ... ... ... ... 297
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII
PAGE
The Niche and Mosque of Al-Mu‘ayyad
Pulpit in the ... ... 298
Section of the Mosque of Ka’it Bey ... ... ... ... ... 299
Plan of a House in Cairo -Ground Floor ... ... ... ... 300
—
Plan of a House in Cairo First Floor ... ... ... ... ... 301
—
Plan of a House in Cairo Second Floor ... ... ... ... 302
Minaret of ‘Amr ... ...
. . ... ... ... ... ... 305
Minaret of Iskandar Pasha ... ... ... ... ... ... 305
Minaret of Tiilun ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 305
Minaret of Ka’it Bey 306
Minaret of Barkiik ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 306
Minaret of Al-Azhar ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 306
Minaret of Al-Mu‘ayyad 307
Minaret of Kalafun ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 307
Minaret of Sultan Hasan... ... ... ... ... ... ... 307
Panel from the Pulpit in the Mosque of Tulun ... ... ... 309
A Window of the Mosque of Tulun ... ... ... ... ... 310
Plan of Catacombs ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 380
The Pronaos and Entrance to the Funeral Chamber ... ... ... 381
Plan of the Mosque of ‘Amr 442
Plan of the Mosque of Al-Azhar 443
Plan of the Mosque of Tulun ... ... ... ... ... ... 445
Plan of the Muristan and Mosque of Kalaun ... ... ... ... 446
The Lantern in the Sanctuary of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan .... 447
Plan of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan ... ... ... ... ... 448
Plan of the Mosque of Barkuk ... ... ... ... ... ... 449
Plan of the Mosque of Ka’it Bey ... ... ... ... ... 450
Plan of the Mosque of Al-Mu‘ayyad ... ... ... ... ... 452
Section of the Pyramid of Cheops at Gizah ... ... ... ... 473
Section of the Pyramid of Mycerinus at Gizah... ... ... ... 477
Plan of the Pyramid of Meren-Ra ... ... ... ... ... 491
Plan of the Pyramid of Unas ... ... ... ... ... ... 492
The Necropolis at Dahshur ... ... ... ... ... ... 496
Plans of the Oasis, Railway, Temples, etc., in the Oasis of Khargah 514
The Peninsula of Sinai, showing Positions of Mount Serbal, Mount
Musa (Sinai?), and Ras as-Safsaf (Horeb)... ... ... ... 540
Scene in the Wadi Mukattab, showing Rocks with Figures of Animals
and Men, and several “ Sinaitic Inscriptions” cut upon them ... 549
Plan of the Monastery of St. Catherine ... ... ... ... 560
View of the Monastery of St. Catherine on Jebel Musa ... ... 561
Sketch of the Mosaic Church of the Transfiguration
in the ... ... 562
The Cave of Moses and the “ Clift in the Rock ” ... ... ... 567
xym LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Plan of the Temple of Sarabit al-Khadim 570
Stele set up at Sarabit al-Khadim by an Official of Amen-hetep III,
1450 B.c ... 571

Inscription for Wa’ilu and others ••• 575
Inscription for Faridu ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 575
Greek and Nabatean Inscription Aushu ... for ... 576
Plan of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos ... ... ... ... 607
Plan of the Temple of Rameses II at Abydos ... ... ... ... 608
Plan of the Temple at Denderah ... 614
The Temple of Luxor, as it appeared about 1820 ... 624
The Temple of Luxor ... ... ... ... 626
Temples on the Right or East Bank of the River ... 627
arnak, Plans of 633-636
Plan of the Temple at Kurnah ... ... 643
Temples, Tombs, etc., on the Left or West Bank of the River ... 644
Plan of the Ramesseum at Kurnah ... 645
Plan of the Temples and other Buildings at Madinat Habii ... ... 649
The Little Temple of Thothmes II at Madinat Habii ... 650
The Temple of Rameses III at Madinat Habu ... 653
The Temple of Hatshepset at Der al-Bahari ... ... 656
Queen IJatshepset... ... 658
Pa-rehu, the Prince of Punt, his Wife, and his Two Sons and
Daughter 659
Plans of the Tomb of Queen Hatshepset ... ... ... 661—663
The Temple of Hatshepset as excavated by Prof. Naville for the
Egypt Exploration Fund ... ... ... ... ... ... 665
The Temples of Menthu-hetep (A) and Hatshepset (B) at Der
al-Bahari ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 666,667
Cow Hathor
of ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 668
Tombs at Kurnah .. . ... ... ... ... ... ... 672,673
Plan of the Tomb of Amsu (or Min)-Nekht ... ... ... ... 677
Plan of the Tomb of Ra-men-kheper-senb ... ... ... ... 677
Plan of the Tomb of Peh-su-kher ... ... ... ... ... 677
Plan of the Tomb of Mentu-her-khepesh-f ... ... ... ... 677
Plan of the Tomb of Amu-netcheh ... ... ... ... ... 678
Plan of the Tomb of Mai ... ... ... ... ... ... 678
Plan of the Tomb of Nefer-hetep ... ... ... ... ... 67S
Plan of the Tomb of Amen-em-heb ... ... ... ... ... 678
Plan of the Tomb of Peta-Amen-em-apt ... ... ... ... 681
Tomb of Queen Thi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 683
Plan of the Tomb of Thothmes IV ... ... ... ... ... 687
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xix
PAGE
Thothmes IV in his Chariot charging his Foes... ... ... ... 689
Plan of the Tomb of Amen-hetep III 690
Ground Plan and Section of the Tomb of Seti I 691
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses I... ... ... ... ... ... 692
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses II ... ... ... ... ... 693
Plan of the Tomb of Amen-meses ... ... ... ... ... 693
Plan of the Tomb of Menephthah I 694
Plan of the Tomb of Seti II 695
Plan of the Tomb of Setnekht ... ... ... ... ... ... 696
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses III ... ... ... ... ... 696
Plan of the First Tomb of Rameses III ... ... ... ... 697
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses VI ... ... ... ... ... 698
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses IX ... ... ... ... ... 698
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses IV ...
... ... ... ... 699
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses IV (from a Papyrus) ... ... ... 699
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses VII (?) ... ... ... ... ... 700
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses X ... ... ... ... ... 700
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses XII ... ... ... ... ... 700
Inscribed Coffer from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau ... ... ... 701
Set of Vases from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau ... ... ... 702
Inside of Head Thuau
of Bedstead of Iuaa and ... ... ... 703
Chair of State from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau ... ... ... 704
Chariot from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau ... ... ... .... 705
Plan of the Temple of Esna, with Restorations by Grand Bey ... 709
Plan of the Great Temple of Edfu ... ... ... ... ... 715
Temple of Seti I on the road between Radasiyah and Berenice ... 716
Plan of the Temple of Kom Ombos ... ... ... ... ... 719
Environs of Aswan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 723
The Tombs at Aswan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 728
Plan of the Island of Philse ... 736
Plan of the Temple of Dabud ... ... ... ... ... ... 746
Plan of the Temple of Tafah ... ... ... ... ... ... 747
Plan of the Temple of Kalabshah ... ... ... ... ... 748
Plan of the Temple of Bet-al-Wali ... ... ... ... ... 749
Plan of the Temple of Dendur ... ... ... ... ... ... 750
Plan of the Temple of Kirshah 751
Temple of Dendur ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 752
Plan of the Temple of Dakkah ... ... ... ... ... 753, 754
Plan of the Temple of Miharrakah 755
Plan of the Temple of Wadi Sabu‘ah ... 756
Plan of the Temple of ‘Amadah ... ... ... ... ... ... 757
XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Seated Colossi and Front of the Temple at Abu Simbel ... 760
Plan of the Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel ... ... ... 762
Plan of the Chapel at Abu Simbel ... ... ... ... ... 765
Map of the Nile ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 790
The Pyramids and Temples of Gebel Barkal ... ... ... ... 796
The Temple of Tirhakah at Gebel Barkal ... ... ... ... 797
The Temple of Piankhi at Gebel Barkal ... ... ... ... 797
Senka-Amen-seken, King of Nubia, clubbing his Foes ... ... 799
The Pyramids of Nuri at the Foot of the Fourth Cataract ... ... 800
Map of the Sudan Railways ... ... ... ... ... ... 802
The Nile-Red Sea Railway ... ... ... ... ... ... S08
The Largest Group of Pyramids at Meroe ... ... ... ... 812
The Second and Third Group of Pyramids at Meroe ... ... ... 816
Plan of the Large Temple at Nagaa ... ... ... ... ... 825
Plan of a Small Temple at right angles to the Large Temple at
Nagaa ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 825
Plan of a Small Temple near the Plain of Nagaa ... ... ... 826
Plan of Temples on the Brow of the Hill at Nagaa ... ... ... 82
Khartum and Omdurman in 1905 ... ... ... ... ... 830
General Gordon Pasha ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 835
The Mahdi’s Tomb before the Bombardment of Omdurman... ... 837
The Great Equatorial Lakes ... ... ... ... ... ... 855
The Wadi Ilammamat and Kuser route to the Emerald Mines and
Berenice 858
HANDBOOK
FOR
EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN.
INTRODUCTION.
Practical Information for Travellers.
Speaking generally, the season for travelling in Egypt
extends from the beginning of November to the end of April.
In Lower Egypt, that is, all the country north of Cairo.
November, February, March, and April are delightful months,
but in Cairo it is somewhat cold in December and January,
and when during these months rain falls in heavy showers
throughout the Delta the climate occasionally is unpleasant.
Those who like heat will find both May and October very
enjoyable months, especially in Lower Egypt. Travellers
who are intending to visit Palestine and Syria as well as
Egypt cannot do better than select November, December,
January, and February, or until the middle of March, for their Nile
journey, and March, April, and May, the most genial months
of the year, for Palestine. On the other hand, many people
prefer to see the Holy Land in the autumn, and in this case
they should travel there during October and November, and
make their journey up the Nile when they return in December.
—
Length of Visit. No hard-and-fast rule can be laid down
as to the time which it is necessary to spend in Egypt in order
to get a general idea of the country, for in the majority of
cases this depends entirely on the individual. A tourist,
who can endure an ordinary amount of fatigue, and is tolerably
active and industrious, and will be contented to be advised by
those who have a practical knowledge of the country, can in
from 35 to 40 days see a great deal of Egypt; moreover, each
year brings with it new and increased facilities for travelling,
and the tourist can now travel with extraordinary rapidity
from one great town to another. All that is wanted is a care-
fully thought-out plan, and fixity of purpose to carry it out
If a tourist can spare five weeks for his journey in Egypt itself
he should give two days to Alexandria, 14 days to Cairo, and
21 to 24 days to his trip to Aswan, including a stay of three
or four days at Luxor. In five weeks all the principal temples
and ruins between Cairo and the First Cataract can be seen,
2 INTRODUCTORY PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
and if another week can be spared, a visit to the Second
Cataract and Wadi Halfah, and to the temple of Rameses IT at

Abft Simbel, can be obtained. Invalids and persons seeking
relief from sickness or disease must, of course, follow the
instructions of their medical advisers, and their movements
cannot be taken as the standard for moderately healthy folk
who have only a very limited time to spend on their trip, and
who intend to see all they can in a short period. Before the
advent of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son’s Tourist Steamers it
was customary for travellers to make the voyage up the Nile
in a dahabiyyak i.e ., a kind of large house-boat with sails,
,
and it was no uncommon thing for a party to spend four or

five months in travelling from Cairo to Wadi Halfah and back.
By the aid of steam it was found possible for the tourist to see
the principal antiquities on both banks of the Nile in about
30 days, and large numbers availed themselves of the oppor-
tunities offered to them by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son. In
1886 they introduced the present services of Tourist and
Express Steamers, which have been the means of throwing
open the wonders of Egypt and the Nile to thousands of people
who would otherwise have been debarred by expense from
seeing one of the most wonderful countries in the world. It
is difficult for those who travelled in Egypt between 1850 and
1870 to realise the change which has come over this country
owing to her fast river steamers and railways, and still more
difficult is it for them to understand how much can be seen in
a week in these days, when Aswan can be reached from Cairo
easily in 23 hours.
Parties. — In Egypt and through the desert it is, if at all
possible, advisable to journey with a party of friends or
relatives, or with a number of acquaintances, especially if
expense be a matter for serious consideration. The language
(Arabic) is wholly foreign to the majority of the visitors
to Egypt, and the manners and customs of the people are so
different from anything to which the ordinary European
traveller has been accustomed, that many places should not
be visited by him or her without a sufficient escort of friends
or acquaintances. Moreover, it frequently happens that the
costs which have to be borne by a single traveller are very
little more for a party.
The cost of a tour in Egypt varies according to its length

and the needs of the traveller, and it is futile to estimate the
daily cost of living unless the place of abode and the habits of
COST OF TOUR, CIRCULAR NOTES, MONEY. O
the visitor are known. From 20 s. to 30s. a day should pay

for board and lodging in an ordinary way. but carriages and
the services of a good and capable dragoman, or interpreter,
are somewhat expensive items if required frequently. There
is no doubt that the cost of living comfortably in Cairo has
risen, and that servants of all kinds are not satisfied with the
gratuities which would have been received gratefully a few
years ago. It must, however, be remembered that it costs
more to live among clean surroundings and in comfort than in
discomfort, and that the proprietors of large luxuriously
furnished hotels, built on sites in the most expensive and
fashionable quarters of a town, must charge a higher rate
per day than those who own hotels and pensions which stand
in old and insalubrious quarters. The necessaries of life are
not dear in Cairo. The electric trams, though the clang of
their bells is deafening, and the overhead wires make the city
hideous, afford a very quick and cheap means of locomotion,
and they have made readily accessible many parts of the city
which formerly could only be visited in a carriage.
Travellers are recommended to carry the money they require
on the journey in Circular Notes issued by Thos. Cook & Son,
as these afford great security, and can be cashed readily.
Circular notes are issued for sums of £
20 and upwards
(in notes, ^20, ^10, and ^5 and Letters of Credit
each),
for sums of ^100 and upwards. Foreign moneys can be
obtained from the head office and principal branches of
Thos. Cook & Son, who, having branch offices and corre-
spondents in all parts of the East, are in a position to offer
special facilities to travellers for the arrangement of all matters
connected with Foreign Banking and Exchange.
—
Money. Among the ancient Egyptians the business of
buying and selling was carried on by means of exchanges, and
in the earliest times such exchanges were to be regarded
rather as exchanges of presents than as true business trans-
actions. When tribe met tribe gifts were exchanged, and as
long as each tribe obtained what it most needed or most
desired, the question of the value of the things given or
received was not considered. In fact, the idea of a “ unit
of value ” was not evolved until a later period. The
Egyptians gave so many beads, or other objects or substances,
to the Sfidani folk in return for cattle, skins of animals, ebony,
ostrich feathers, gold, etc., just as, a few years ago, European
travellers obtained all these things in exchange for beads,
A 2
brass wire, bright-coloured articles of apparel, etc. In Egypt,

as elsewhere, the things which were most generally desired
became the currency of the country at a very early period, and
we are right in assuming that a “ unit of value ” soon sprang
up. The inconvenienceof making payments in dates, cattle,
grain, and other bulky and perishable commodities, especially
at a distance, was early felt, and throughout the Dynastic
Period the Egyptians employed gold and silver as currency
money, in the modern sense of the term, they had none.
Gold of various qualities was usually brought into Egypt from
the Sudan either as dust, which was tied up in little leather
sacks, or in rings whether the rings bore upon them any
;
stamp or mark which guaranteed their purity or quality is

uncertain. Most things were sold by weight, and payments
were made by weight. This custom was so widespread in
Egypt that the Government appointed public weighers, who, in
cases of dispute, became the final arbiters of the business.
Merchants in the gold and silver bazaar in Cairo to this day
send the objects which they sell to the public scales to be
weighed, and the official in charge supplies a certificate of
weight duly stamped. The reliefs at Thebes prove that the
gold rings from the Sudan and Punt were carefully weighed,
and under the New Empire at least there is reason to believe
that the different qualities of the metal of which they were
made were carefully distinguished. In the country to the
south and east of Sennaar gold rings are in use as money even
at the present day, and in some places during the past century
they have been made of different sizes, so as to represent in
value dollars (Maria Theresa), half dollars, and quarter
dollars.
Coined money was first introduced into Egypt in the reign
of Darius the Great, who struck the famous coins gold Darics.
Aryandes, the Persian satrap of Egypt under Cambyses, struck
silver coins in imitation of these gold Darics, and suffered
death for this act of presumption. The Ptolemies introduced
into Egypt a currency in gold, silver, and copper. According
to Herodotus ([, 93), the first people who coined gold and
silver money were the Lydians. Servius Tullius made copper
money about 560 b.c., with a sheep pecus stamped upon it,
hence the name pecunia (Pliny, LI 1 , 3). Silver money was
coined at Athens about 512 b.c., and some say that Phidon,
king of Argos, invented weights and measures and coined
silver money 895 b.c.
MONEY. 5
The Egyptian pound (;£E.) contains 100 piastres, and

each piastre contains to milliemes ; it is worth 20s. 6d., or
nearly 26 francs. The pound being divided into 100 piastres,
each piastre, which is called a piastre* tariff (P.T.), is worth
2^d., and a millieme is therefore worth \d. The English
pound or sovereign is worth 97^ P.T. ; the Napoleon, or
20-franc gold piece, is worth 77/0 P-T. ; and the Turkish
pound is worth 87I P.T. Silver coins are the Riyal, or dollar,
which is worth 20 piastres, the half and quarter Riyal, worth
10 and 5 piastres respectively, and the 2-piastre and 1 -piastre
pieces. In nickel we have pieces worth 1, 2, and 5 milliemes
respectively. In the old system of coinage a piastre was
worth 40 para, and 2-para and 1 -para pieces are struck at the
present time. These are, however, chiefly used for scattering
among children as bakshish.
Egyptian Silver and Nickel Coinage.
Silver. 20-piastre piece. Silver, io-piastre piece.
Silver. 5-piastre piece.
Silver. 2-piastre Silver. i-piastre

piece. piece.
Value, 2 \d.
Value, 5 d.
* From the Low Latin plastra a plaster, a thin piece of money (French
,
piastre , Spanish and Italian piastra). The Arabic for piastre is kirsh
ijMji y or ghirsh •
Egyptian Silver and Nickel Coinage (

contd.).
Nickel i-piastre piece Nickel Half-piastre

;
the
Nickel 2 millims.
“piastre tariff’' piece ;
i.e.,
Nickel. 1 millim.
big pias.re.” “little piastre.”
Value, one half- Value, one far-

penny. (iomill.= thing or four
i piastre.) paras.
Weights.
Ukiyah = 12 dirhams = 1*3206 ounces = *066 pint *= 37*44 grammes.
Rotl = 12 ukiyah =144 dirhams = *4449312 kilogramme = *99049 lb.
— 79 pint.
Ukkah = 400 dirhams = = =
i
2*77 rotls 2*19 pints 2*7513 lbs.

— ‘235920 kilogrammes.
1
Kantar = 100 rotls = 36 ukka = 98*09 lbs. = 44*49312 kilogrammes.
Measures of Length.
Pik or Dira (Baladi, i.e., of the country) = 23*01 inches = *585 metre.
Pik (Turkish and Indian) ... = 26^ inches = *66 metre.
Pik (used in building) = 29*53 inches = 7 5 metre.
Pik (Nile gauge) = *54 metre.
Kasabah = 11 ft. 8 in. = 3*550 metres.
Measures of Surface.
Kirrat (square) ... ... = 175 034722 square metres.
Pik (square, used in building) =6*43 square feet = 5*62 square metres.
Pik (cubic, used in building) =14*90 cubic feet.
Kasabah (square) ... ... = 13*04 square yards.
Kasabah (cubic) ... ... =44*738875 cubic metres.
Feddan ... ... ... =1*03808 acre = 5,082 square yards =
4200*833333 square metres. This is
the unit of measure for land.
Dry Measure.
Ardeb = 3 kantars = 43*95 gallons = 5 *49 bushels = 198 litres = 300 pounds =
108 ukka= 1 9774770 cubic metre.
*
kila = TV ardeb. A
The approximate weight of the ardeb is as follows Wheat, 315 rotl. ; : —
beans, 320 rotl.; barley, 250 rotl. ; maize, 315 rotl. ; cotton seed, 270 rotl.
The Sa‘a (literally, hour) is any distance between 2 \ and 4J miles.
Old measures of length are Fitr, the space between the thumb and
:
first finger when extended. Shibr, the space between the thumb and
little finger, when extended, i.e., a span. Kabdah, the measure of a
man’s fist with the thumb erect.
Kirrat (hence our carat) ... = 3 grains (Troy).
Dirham (16 carats) ... ... = 48*15 grains (Troy) = *11 ounce.
Mithkal (24 carats) ... ... = 72*22 grains (Troy).
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES,
Weights and Measures.

(French and English compared.)
i metre 3*28090 feet.

i ,, (square) 107643 ,, (square).
i ,, (cubic) 35 '3 l66 „ (cubic).
i 220*097 gallons.
i j » > >
27*5121 bushels.
I foot *304794 metre.
I (square)
,, *09290 ,, (square).
i ,, (cubic) •028315 ,, (cubic).
i gallon •004543
i bushel •036348 ,,
i kilogramme 2*2046 lb.

i lb. *453593 kilogramme.
i acre 4046*71 square metres.
5 miles 8 kilometres (approx.).
Egyptian and English Money.

One Egyptian pound, or 100 piastres, or i.ooomilliemes = £1 os 6 d.
.
Pias. £ s. d. £E.
— £
j*. d. Ê. £ s. d.
1 == O 0 2i 1 I 0 6 27 M 27 13 10
2 = O 0 4l 2 — 2 I
°i 28 = 28 14 4 i
= = =
|
3 O 0 7i 3 3 I 64 29 29 14 104
4 = O 0 9i 4 = 4 2 °4 30 = 30 45 4i
= =
I
'==
5 O I 0 5 5 2 7 3i 31 15 IOj
6 = O I 2i 6 6 3 1 32 32 16 5
7 = O I 5 7 = 7 3 7 33 33 16 11
8 = O I 7i 8 8 4 34 34 17 5
9 = O I 10 9 = 9 4 7± 35 35 17 ni
10 = 0 2 °2 10 ;== 10 5 i
4 36
-
36 18 5i
1 = O 2 3 1 = 11 5 74 37 = 37 18 ni
12 = O 2 5i 12 '= 12 6 2 38 P 38 19 6
13 = O 2 8 13 = 13 6 8 39 = 40 0 0
14 — O 2 10J 14 = 14 7 2 40 == 41 0 6
15 = 0 3 1 15 = 15 7 34 4^ — 42 I 0
16 = 0 3 3i 16 = ib 8 24 42 = 43 I 6i
17 = 0 3 6 17 — 17 8 H 43 44 2 oi
18 = 0 3 8* 18 = 18 9 3 44 = 45 2 6J
19 = 0 3 ioi 19 = 19 9 9 45 = 46 3 1
20 = 0 4 H 20 = 20 10 3 46 47 3 7
30 = 0 6 2 21 = 21 10 94 47 = 48 4 1
40 = 0 8. 2i 22 = 22 11 34 48 --
49 4 7*
50 = 0 10 3 23 = 2 3 11 94 49 = 50 5 xi
60 = 0 12 3S
!
24 = 24 12 4 50 = 5 i
5 7i
70 = 0 14 4 I
25 = 25 12 10 100 = 102 11 3i
80 = 0 16 5 ! 26 = 26 13 4
90 = 0 18 5i
1
100 = I 0 1
English and Egyptian Money.
s. d .
—
Mill. d . Mill. £ Pias.
o 3 12*2 12 3 # 597*2 13 = 12674
= = 609*4
o
o
6
=
24*4
6-6
12
12
6
= 621 *6
14
15
n= 1365
14624
9 3 9
I o = 487 13 0 638-8 16 = 1560
I
3 = 60 ’9 13 3 = 645-9 17 = >6574
I 6 — 73 *i 13 6 = 658-1 18 1755
I 9 = 857 13 9 S 670-3 19 = 18524
2 o — 97*5 14 0 = 682*5 20 — 1950
2 3
= 1097 14 3 =. 694-7 21 2 ° 47 i
2 6 = 121 ’9 14 6 = 706-9 22 2145
2 9 = i 34 *i 14 9 = 719-1 23 22424
3 o -
146*2 15 0 = 73 i
'2 24 = 2340
3 3 = i
58
*4 15 3 743’4 25 = 2 437 i
3 6 = 170*6 15 6 = 755'6 26 = 2 535
3 9 = 182*8 15 9 8 767-8 27 3= 26324
4 o — 195*0 16 0 == 780*0 28 = 2730
4 3
= 207*2 16 3 ~ 792*2 29 28274
4 6 =3 219*4 16 6 = 804*4 30 2925
4 9 = 231*6 16 9 = 8l6*6 31 30224
5 o = 243*8 i 7 0 = 128*8 32 = 3120
5 3 = 225*9 1 7 3 = 840*9 33 == 32174
6 = 268*1 17 6 = 853 'i 34
— 3315
5
5 9 = 280*3 1 7 9 = 865-3 35 = 34124
6 0 = 292*5 18 0 = 877-5 36 = 35 io
6 3 = 304*7 18 3 = 889-7 37 = 36074
6 6 = 316*9 18 6 = 901-9 38 3705
6 9 == 329 *i 18 9 = 914-1 39 = 38024
7 o = 34 i *2 19 0 =. 926*2 40 = 3900
= 353*4 938-4 =
7 3
6 = 365*6
19
19
3
6
|
= 950-6
4i
42 =
39974
7 4095
7 9 = 377*8 19 9 = 962*8 43
-=
41924
8 . o = 390 *o 20 0 = 975*0 44 = 4290
8 3
= 402*2 45 — 43874
8 6 = 414*4 46 4485
8 9 = 426*6 47 45824
9 o = 438-8 £ Dias. 48 = 4680
9 3 = 450-9 1 = 97 i 49 47774
9 6 8f 463-1 2 = 195 50 = 4875
9 9 = 475-3 3 = 2924 60 = 5850
IO o 487-5 4 = 39 ° 70 6825
IO 3 = 499-7 5
— 4872 80 = 7800
IO 6 511-9 6 = 585 90 = 8775
IO 9 = 524-0 7
— 6824 100 = *
9750
1 o -
536-2 8 = 780 200 = 19500
— —
1
3 584-4 9 « 77 i 3 °° 29250
1 6 = 560*6 10 = 975 400 = 39000
II 9 == 572-8 1 = 10724 500 = 48750
12 o = 585-0 12 = 1170
EGYPTIAN AND FRENCH MONEY. 9
Egyptian and French Money.

One Egyptian pound, or ioo piastres, or 1,000 milliemes = 26 francs.
Piastres. Francs. £E . Pias. Frs. £E . Pias. Frs.
4 1 1 and 12 — 29 3 and 66 = 95
8 2 1 a 16 — 30 3 a 86 = IOO
12 = 3 1 a 20 = 31 5 a 78 = 150
15 4 1 f f 23 = 32 7 a 7lh = 200
19 5 1 ,, 27 = 33 8 a 49 = 220
23 6 1 a 3i = 34 9 a 64 = 250
27 7 1 i f 35 = 35 10 a 3 = 260
31 8 1 a 39 = 36 10 a 80 =? 280
35 9 1 a 43 = 37 11 a 57 == 300
39 10 1 a 47 38 12 if 34 = 320
42 1 1 a 50 = 39 13 if 50 |g 350
46 12 1 a 54 - 40 13 f f 89 = 360
50 13 1 58 - 4i 14 if 66 '
= 380
54 14. 1
f f
if 62 — 42 15 if 43 = 400
58 ^5 1 if 66 ==
43 16 if 20 = 420
62 = 16 1 if 70 = 44 16 f f 97 = 440
66 17 1
a 74 =. 45 17 if 74 460
69 18 1 a 77 = 46 18 f f 52 = 480
73 19 1 a 81 = 47 19 if 29 == 500
77 20 1 a 85 8 48 21 if 22 = 550
=-
81 21 1 a 89 49 23 if * 4i 600
85 22 1 a 93 = 50 25 f f 7 = 650
89 23 2 a 12 = 55 27 700
93 24 2 a 3i
= 60 28 if 93 = 750
96 25 2 65 30 86 = 800
2
if 5i
70
|
- 70
if
850
a 32 if 79
£E . Pias. 2 if 89 - 75 34 if 72 = 900
1 = 26 3 a 9 = 80 36 a 65 = 950
1 and 4 = 27 3 a 28 = 85 38 a 57 i 1000
1 ,, 8 = 28 1
3 a 47 - 90
Thermometric Equivalents.
Variations of temperature are marked on thermometers by
scales, the commonest of which are those of Fahrenheit
(mostly used in England), Centigrade, and Reaumur. In
0
the Fahrenheit thermometer the freezing point is marked 32 ,
0
and the boiling point 212 In the Centigrade thermometer
.
the boiling point is marked zero o°, and the boiling point ioo°.
In the Reaumur thermometer the freezing point is marked
zero o°, and the boiling point 8o°.
To convert Centigrade into Fahrenheit multiply by 9,
divide by 5, and add 32, thus :
(Cent.) 40 x 9 = 360 -^-5 = 72 + 32 = 104 (Fahr.)

To convert Reaumur into Fahrenheit multiply by 9,
divide by 4, and add 32, thus :
(Reau.) 40 x 9 = 360 4- 4 = 90 + 32 = 122 (Fahr.)

IO INTRODUCTORY PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
To convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade deduct 32,

multiply by 5, and divide by 9, thus :
(Fahr.) 112 - 32 = 80 x 5 = 400 4- 9 = 44* (Cent.)

To convert Fahrenheit into Reaumur deduct 32,
multiply by 4, and divide by 9, thus :
(Fahr.) 98 —
32 = 66 x 4 = 264 -f-
9 = 29J (Reau.)
Thermometric Scales.
Fahr. Cent. Fahr. Cent, \ Fahr. Cent.
Freezing 32 0*0 69 20-6 106 41*1
33 o*6 70 21 *1 T07 4 i *7
34 1 *i 7 1 217 108 42*2
35 1*7 72 22 ‘2 109 42-8
36 2*2 73 22*8 . 1 10 43*3
37 2*8 74 23*3 hi 43*9
38 3*3 75 23*9 ;
Fever 112 44*4
39 3*9 Summer 76 24*4 ii 3 45 *o
40 4*4 77 25*0 114 45 6
4i 5 *o 78 25 ’6 ii 5 46*1
42 5*6 79 26’ 1 1 467
43 6*i 80 267 1 17 4 7 ’2
-
44 67 81 27*2 118 47-8

45 7*2 82 27*8 119 487
46 7*8 83 28*3 120 48-9
47 8*3 Reaumur 84 28*9 125 517
48 8*9 85 29*4 130 54’4
49 9*4 86 3
°*° 135 57'2
50 10*0 87 3°*6 140 60 *o
5 i jo*6 88 3 i*i 145 62*8
52 ii*i 89 31 7 150 65*6
53 117 90 32*2 155 68-3
54 I2‘2 9i 32*8 160 7i*i
Temperate 55 12*8 92 33*3 165 73*9
56 13*3 93 33*9 170 767
57 13*9 94 34*4 175 79 '4
58 14*4 95 35 *o 180 82-2
59 15-0 96 35*6 185 85*0
60 15*6 97 36*1 190 87-8
6l 16*1 Blood 98 367 195 90*6
62 167 99 37*2 200 93*3
63 17*2 100 37*8 205 96*1
64 17-8 101 38*3 210 98-9
65 18-3 102 38*9 21 99'4
66 18*9 103 39*4 Boiling 212 100*0
67 194 104 40 ‘O
68 20*2 .
105 40*6
Latitude and Longitude.

For geographical purposes the earth’s surface is divided by
circles called the circles of latitude and longitude. Circles of
RAILWAY TIME. •
II
latitude are parallel to the equator. Circles of longitude are

perpendicular to the equator, and pass through the North and
South Poles. These circles are divided into degrees, minutes,
and seconds. A geographical mile is the length of one
minute of latitude, its mean length being 6,076*8 feet. The
Nautical mile is 6,080 feet.
Railway Time in Various Countries.

Greenwich Mean Time is used in England, France, Bel-
gium, Spain, Gibraltar. In Holland the time used is that of
Amsterdam, which is 20 minutes in advance of Greenwich.
Central European Time is used in Sweden, Denmark,

Norway, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, and
Servia.
The difference between Greenwich Mean Time and Central
European Time is one hour.
When it is 12 o’clock noon, Greenwich Mean Time, it is in-
Lisbon 1 1.24 a.m. Vladivostock ... 8.48 p.m.
Constantinople 2.0 p.m. Tokio ... ... 11.13 p.m.
St. Petersburg 2.0 p.m. San Francisco ... 4.0 a.m.
Irkutsk 6.57 p.m. Chicago 6.0 a.m.
Kharbin 8.27 p.m. New York ... 7.0 a.m.
Civil Time. — Civil time is that of the 30th Meridian East

of Greenwich (East European time), and is two hours fast of
Greenwich or West European time, and one hour fast of Central
European time. A gun is fired at the Citadel daily at noon
(East European time) by an electric current sent by the
Standard Clock from the Observatory at Helwan. The same
current also gives an electric signal to Alexandria, Port Sa’id,
and Wadi Halfah.
The day begins at sunset according to the Muhammadans
and Jews, and at sunrise according to the Copts.
In 1911, the year 1329 of the Muhammadan Era began on
January 1. The year 1330 will begin on December 22.
In 1911, the year 1628 of the Coptic Era begins on Sept. 10.
In 1911, the year 5672 of the Jewish Era begins on
September 23.
Passports with Turkish visa are absolutely necessary for
and Syria or anyplace in Turkish dominions,
visiting Palestine
and they are useful in order to procure admission to certain
places of interest, to obtain letters from the Poste Restante,
and especially to establish identity whenever required. Thos.
Cook &
Son will obtain passports with the necessary visas of
foreign Ambassadors or Consuls. The total cost, including visa
of the Turkish Consul, is 8s. 6d.
Customs. -—The Custom-house examination at Egyptian
ports is and the inspectors are usually
carefully performed,
polite. There are Custom Houses at Alexandria, Cairo, Port
Sa’id, Suez, Damietta, Kuser (Kosseir), and Custom ports at
Kantarah, Isma’iliyah and Rosetta. An 8 per cent, ad valorem
import duty is charged on all goods entering the country, and
at Alexandria an additional half per cent, is charged for quay
and paving dues. The import duty of 8 per cent, is sometimes
charged on objects belonging to the tourist, if new and all ;
tobacco (leaf, 20 piastres per kilo ;

manufactured, 25 piastres
CIVIL TIME, PASSPORTS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 1
per kilo)* is liable to duty ; the duty levied on cigars is
25 piastres per kilo. The export duty is i per cent, ad valorem

on all products of Egypt and the Sudan.
By recent instructions issued by the Minister of War the
importation of cartridges into Egypt by travellers is pro-
hibited, but English cartridges of the very best make are
procurable at reasonable prices in Cairo. As agents of the
Nobels Explosives Company, Messrs. Thos. Cook Son have &
always on hand a large stock of their sporting Ballistite and
Empire Powder Cartridges, which are much in favour in
Egypt.
For Quail Shooting in the Gizah Province a licence is
required. It is obtainable from Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son,
and must be renewed in February each year.
On leaving the country luggage is liable to be examined,
and no traveller should attempt to export Egyptian antiquities

without a special authorization to do so.
Antiquities should be submitted to the authorities of the Egyptian
Museum, who will assess their value for export duty, and have them
duly sealed with the official seal, and will give the owner a signed
permit addressed to the Mudir of the Customs, instructing him to
allow the objects to leave the country.
—
Dress. It is always desirable in travelling to dispense with
unnecessary baggage ; at the same time if the traveller intends
to journey for months he must be well supplied with clothing.
Gentlemen should take with them an evening suit, thick and
thin light-coloured tweed suits, a suit of some dark-coloured
material for wearing on special occasions, a flannel suit or two,
riding breeches and gaiters, thick and thin overcoats, thin and
thick pairs of shoes both in black and brown leather. A pair
of strong thick-soled shoes, or boots, will be found invaluable in
exploring ruins. Woollen socks, flannel and linen shirts, slippers,
straw and felt hats, cloth caps, white umbrella lined with green,
cork sun-helmet, and an ulster, make a fairly complete outfit.
A kafiyyah or turban cloth, to be tied round the hat or helmet
,
in such a way that a good portion of it falls over the neck and
sides of the face, should not be forgotten. Ladies will find
very useful thick and thin brown shoes or boots, and short
blue serge skirts, white and coloured cotton and linen shirts,
dresses of thicker materials for cold days and evenings, wrappers
and cloaks, etc. If shoes are worn in exploring ruins, gaiters
* An extra duty of 2 piastres per kilo is charged on the above categories
when not coming from Turkey or from a country having a Commercial
Convention with Egypt.
will be found most useful for keeping out the sand and for
protection against the bites of insects.
Among small miscellaneous articles which will be found
very useful are the following :
—A good field or opera glass,
a pocket filter and leather drinking-cup, leather straps, two or
three small balls of twine of different thicknesses, a small strong
writing case with plenty of writing materials, a good strong
pocket-knife with a long blade of well-tempered steel, smoked
spectacles, needles, pins, scissors, tape, thread, buttons, com-
pass, small magnifying glass, soap, etc. Artists, geologists,
entomologists, and those who wish to pursue a favourite line of
study, should take all the most necessary materials with them ;
photographers can obtain films, etc., in Cairo, but those who wish
to be quite certain about the age of their films had better buy
as many as they are likely to want before they start for Egypt.
Doctors’ addresses may be obtained at any of the hotels. There
are resident English practitioners at Cairo (a large number),
Alexandria, Helwan, Luxor, Port Sa‘id, Suez, Aswan, Khartum,
and Port Sudan.
—
Health and Medicine. Egypt is one of the healthiest
countries in the world, and if the most ordinary care be taken
by the traveller he should need neither physician nor medicine.
This remark does not, of course, apply to invalids, who will
follow the advice of their doctors as regards diet, dress, place
of abode, etc. In winter it is usually unnecessary to make any
change way of living, for most people may eat and drink
in the
that to which they are accustomed in Europe. In summer
those who have experience of the country are careful not to
drink wine or spirits in any great quantity until after sundown.
Bathing in the Nile should not be rashly indulged in on
account of the swift and dangerous under-currents. A Turkish
bath will be found delightful after a fatiguing day of sight-
seeing, but the bather must be very careful of draughts, and
dress with due regard to the temperature out of doors,
especially in winter.
At all costs the traveller should guard against chill or cold, for
the results are troublesome and annoying, and may be dangerous.
It should never be forgotten that the mornings and evenings are
cold in winter, and the nights very cold, and arrangements for
keeping the body warm should be made accordingly.
Fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery are generally the result
of cold. The old medicine, Dr. Warburg’s Febrifuge, gives
much relief in fever, and quinine should be taken between,
not during the attacks.
,
Remedies for diarrhoea are a gentle
aperient, followed by concentrated tincture of camphor ; no
FEVER, HEADACHE, OPHTHALMIA, ETC. 1
5
fruit, meat, or fatty food of any kind should be eaten at the

time, and arrowroot orrice, boiled in milk and water until the
grains are well burst, is exceedingly beneficial. Warmth and
rest are essentials. Diarrhoea should never be neglected, for
in Egypt and the Sudan it often leads to dysentery.
Headache and sunstroke are common in Egypt. Effectual
remedies are cold compresses, warm baths, and rest in a
shaded room or place. Great care should be taken to protect
the head and back of the neck with a good broad-brimmed hat,
or cork or pith helmet, and in making long excursions a long
thin pad of khaki tied inside the coat or dress in such a way
,
that it lies along the upper part of the spine, has been found
very beneficial. The nape of the neck should always be covered
when walking or riding in the sun, even comparatively early in
the day, for the sun’s rays are powerful, and many severe head-
aches have been caused by their striking the head and neck
horizontally or diagonally.
A sprained ankle should be treated in the usual way,
i.e., the sufferer must take rest, and keep his foot in wet
bandages. Shoes with stout soles, low heels, and fairly wide
welts form the best footgear to wear when clambering over the
ruins of ancient temples and sites ;
it is in such places that the
ankle is often sprained.

Ophthalmia has always been common in Egypt, a fact
which is proved by the large numbers of natives who are
deprived of the sight of one or both eyes. It is produced by
many causes, and is seriously aggravated by dust and flies and
dirt of every kind, and by the glare of the sun. When remedies
are promptly applied this disease is not alarming in its progress.
Fortunately good medical aid can now be obtained in all the
large towns and cities of Egypt, and the sufferer is recommended
to place himself in competent hands as soon as ophthalmia attacks
him. Tinted spectacles may be often worn with great comfort
and advantage. When travelling from place to place in Upper
Egypt a small pocket medicine case will be found very useful.
In selecting the medicines to stock it the traveller should
before leaving home consult his own medical adviser, who,
knowing his patient’s constitution, will take care that the
remedies for his individual ailments shall be included in the
selection. Cases of the kind are inexpensive and most useful,
especially those which have vulcanite bottles with screw caps.
Each individual will, of course, have a good idea of the
medicines which he most needs, but the following will be
i6 INTRODUCTORY PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
generally useful :
—
Warburg’s tincture and quinine for fever ;
bicarbonate of soda, ginger, bismuth, for stomachic troubles
cascara sagrada and some aperient salt, chlorodyne, and a small
,
quantity of tincture of camphor or of opium, for diarrhoea, and

ipecacuanha wine for dysentery ; a roll of sticking plaster, a roll
of heftband, vaseline, lanoline, and cold cream ; boracic acid
and a preparation of zinc to make lotions for the eyes a ;
powder made of boracic acid and zinc, or something similar,

for abrasions and chafings from riding, etc. a pair of scissors
;
and a clinical thermometer in a metal screw case ammonia ;
for treating the bites of gnats, mosquitoes, and scorpions ;
carbolic acid soap of 5 and 10 per cent, strengths; eau de

Cologne, and an emergency flask of liqueur brandy.
Passengers’ Baggage Insurance. —
Travellers using
Tickets issued by Thos. Cook & Son can have their Baggage
insured on payment of a small premium. The insurance
covers of the loss of Passengers’ Baggage, including
all risk
fire, theft, and by sea and land, also
pilfering whilst travelling
whilst staying at hotels or travelling between hotels and railway
stations, etc. Insurances can be effected for amounts of ^20
and upwards. Full particulars can be obtained at any of the
Offices of Thos. Cook Son. &
Postage and Telegraphs. —
Egypt is included in
the General Postal Union, and
its Postal and Telegraph
Administrations are most ably worked. Every year increased
facilities are given to correspondents, and printed statements
of these, with the times of the despatch and arrival of mails
from all parts of the world, can be seen at all the large Post
Offices in Egypt, and at the Offices of Thos. Cook and Son,
and at all hotels. The Cash-on-Delivery System has been
introduced, and is working successfully ; a service between
Egypt and Great Britain was established in 1908. The penny
postal rate between Egypt and the United Kingdom came
into operation on December 15, 1905.
Inland and Foreign Postage.

I. For the Interior.
Letters, 5 mills, for 30 grammes or fractions.
Post Cards, 3 mills.
,, „ reply, 6 mills.
Newspapers, 1 mill, per number.
Non-periodicals, 1 mill, for 30 grammes.
Visiting Cards, 2 „ „ 50 „
Samples, 2 „ „ 50
POSTAGE, TELEPHONES, TELEGRAPHS, ETC. 17
II. Countries in Postal Union .
Letters, 10 mills. (U.K. 5 mills.) for each 15 grammes.

Post Cards, 4 mills.
„ ,, reply, 8 mills.
Newspapers and Printed Matter, 2 mills, for each
50 grammes.
Telephones. —A trank telephone line exists between Cairo
and Alexandria. The
public call-offices for it are, for Cairo at
the Bourse, and for Alexandria in the State Telegraph Office.
The charges are :
Three minutes’ conversation ... 50 mill.

Six „ „ ... 100 „
Several villages are connected telephonically with the nearest
telegraph office.
Telegraphs in Egypt are worked by Egyptian officials for
the Egyptian Government, and telegrams may be sent in any
European language, except from small local stations, where they
must be written in Arabic. The submarine cables connecting
Egypt with other countries are worked by English companies
with speed, regularity, and success.
Inland Telegrams .
The
charges are 5 mill, for every two words or fraction of
two words with a minimum charge of 20 mill.
Urgent Telegrams are charged triple rate.
Sudan.
Deferred telegrams at 15 mill, per 4 words, with a minimum
charge of 30 mill.
Ordinary telegrams at 15 mill, per 2 words, with a minimum
charge of 60 mill.
Urgent telegrams at 40 mill, per 2 words with a minimum
charge of 160 mill.
The use of Currency Notes is increasing in Egypt, but
as yet they are not readily accepted in small towns and villages
off the beaten roads. There is a Parcel Post to all the
countries in the Postal Union, and Money Orders are issued
for payment in Egypt on a small commission.
—
Bakshish.* This word, which is the equivalent of
“gratuity,” “tip,” or “ pourboire” literally means a “gift,”
and it will probably be the first word the traveller will hear
; : £ tkal$shisji,\ plain , y bujhqrAMil rfeurua
Wr '4
§6hlaib xitnuoa til .aomii fiva
B
j8 INTRODUCTORY PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
when he lands on Egyptian soil, and the last as he leaves it.

Those who render him the smallest service will demand
bakshish, as likewise will those who render him no service at
all, but who stand about, stare at him, and obstruct the way the
;
half-naked child lying in the dust will cry ’shish after him, the
older children will shout the word at him in chorus, and labourers
will stop their work and ask for bakshish on the chance that
they may get something given to them for nothing. Formerly
in Egypt highly placed officials took bakshish openly, but as
they received no regular salary this is not to be wondered at
in recent years this abuse has greatly diminished, and bakshish
is now only demanded by those who wish to be overpaid for
their services, and by beggars. So far as possible the traveller

should agree on the price of every service beforehand, but he
must remember that even when he has paid the sum agreed
upon the native will ask for bakshish So long as travellers
will overpay the Egyptians for their services, so long
will the cry for bakshish be a nuisance to everybody.
No hard-and-fast rule can be laid down, for the simple reason
that the generosity of benevolent men and women which finds
expression in indiscriminate almsgiving and charity, even when
known to be misapplied, refuses to be curbed. It must,
however, be pointed out that those who bestow gifts on an
unreasonably large scale make travelling difficult for people
of moderate means, and for some wholly impossible. If
each traveller would make it a rule never to give
bakshish, except for some positive service rendered,
worth the sum given, he would confer a boon upon
the people and upon future travellers. In Egypt,
as elsewhere, the traveller who pays best will always be
waited upon first, and the more bakshish the native is given
the more he will expect ; each season finds him more and more
dissatisfied with the bakshish with which he would have been
quite content a few years ago. A bargain once made should
be adhered to, for when once the native realizes that his
employer intends to stand firm, he rarely gives further trouble.
Among claimants for bakshish must be mentioned the profes-
sional beggars, who are numerous; many of these are impostors.
On the other hand many of the maimed, the halt, the blind,
and the aged ought to be helped and a few piastres judiciously
,
bestowed often smooth the way of those who, through an

accident, or sickness, or no fault of their own, have fallen on
evil times. In country districts the traveller will save himself
—
BAKSHISH. 19
a good deal of trouble if he will provide himself with a bag

of copper paras (40 =
1 piastre tariff) or nickel milliemes
(10 =1 piastre tariff) before leaving Cairo, for the most

urgent wants of the deserving beggars can be supplied with a
few of these, and the danger of demoralizing the native is
reduced to a minimum.
Bakshish : Important Notice.

The following notice has been issued :
The attention of the Egyptian authorities has been frequently

drawn, both by visitors and by residents in the country, to the
”
evils resulting from the indiscriminate bestowal of “ bakshish
to the inhabitants of the Nile villages, and other places visited
by tourists during the winter season. The intention of the
—
donors is no doubt kindly, but the practice more especially
in view of the yearly increase of visitors to Egypt —
cannot fail
to be detrimental to the moral sense and the social well-being
of the poorer classes of the community. At the present time
many of the poorer inhabitants of those towns on the Nile which
are most visited by tourists live almost entirely on what they
can obtain by “ bakshish ” during the winter months the easy ;
means thus offered of obtaining a small livelihood prevents

their adopting any form of labour and children are brought
;
up which they
to regard the tourist season as the period during
may, by clamorous begging, enable their parents and themselves
to lead a life of idleness for the remainder of the year. The
unhealthy tendency of such a system is obvious.
On the other hand, from the point of view of the Nile
travellers themselves, the inconveniences of this universal
mendicity are equally obvious, and, as time goes on, cannot
fail to increase, unless some means are adopted for checking
the practice.
It would be extremely difficult for the Government to devise
an effective remedy for this state of things. The real remedy
rests with the travellers themselves. If money were,
in future, only bestowed in return for some actual
service rendered, or in cases of evident and estab=
lished distress, the present pernicious habit of begging would
soon die out, to the advantage both of the people and of the
visitors.
It is with this conviction that we venture to express a hope
that our fellow-countrymen, when travelling in Egypt, will lend
their aid to this important reform by abstaining from the dis-
b 2
20 lord cromer’s appeal to travellers.
tribution of money in response to mere demands for “ bakshish,”

bestowing it only when the circumstances appear to them to
warrant their generosity.
Tourists should especially abstain from throwing money from
the decks of steamers on to the landing stages or on to the
banks of the Nile for the purpose of witnessing the scramble
for the coins ; such exhibitions are mischievous as well as
degrading.
(Signed) CROMER, H.B.Mls Minister Plenipotentiary ,
Agent and Consul General .
RUCKER JENISCH, Minister Plenipotentiary ,
Agent and Consul General for Germany .
J. W. RIDDLE, Agent and Consul General

for the United States of America .
The traveller who is a stranger in Egypt, and has no

knowledge of the language, will find hispleasure greatly
increased if he hires a dragoman,* i.e., an “interpreter,” for
good dragomans save employers time, trouble, and money.
their
It often requires considerable moral courage to keep these
individuals in their proper places, for the more useful and
capable they are the more easy is it for their employers to lose
control over them. Dragomans are of two classes, i.e., those
who undertake the charge of parties on long journeys, and
those who act merely as guides to the various places of
interest in cities or towns. The former are often educated
men, and can speak from two to five languages, the latter can
usually speak English or French, but are useful chiefly in
conducting the traveller from one part of the city to another
when his time is limited.
Tourists in Egypt owe the ease and comfort which they
now enjoy in travelling through the country entirely to the
efforts of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, who were the first to
organize the Tourist System, and to make Egypt and its
wonderful antiquities accessible to all classes. As soon as
travellers multiplied, it became difficult to find dragomans
who possessed both a competent knowledge of the sites to
which they conducted tourists, and an adequate acquaintance
* This interesting word is derived through the Arabic targumdn ,
-Mbsemb (Kna(rli2^d3«ijîhdc5^d nnoloi tncLoqrrii aid! oi bi£ ibrit

s a
TRAVELLING AND HOTEL COUPONS. 21
with the plan and history of the antiquities which they were
called upon to describe. After the Occupation of Egypt by
the British, the knowledge and use of English became more
general in the country, and the young Egyptians who were
being educated in the schools of the American Missionaries
and in those of the Government, began to take greater interest
in the history and antiquities of their native land, and to study
the works of European Egyptologists. As a result of this,
Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son are now able to select their
dragomans from a number of well-qualified candidates, and
at the present time they are inferior to none in the country in
general information about the temples, tombs, etc., and in
courtesy. In response to the requests of travellers some
dragomans procure for them scarabs and other small objects,
but it should always be remembered that they are not experts
in the minutice. of Egyptian archaeology, that forgeries are
common, and that even Professors are sometimes deceived.
It is to the interest of dragomans to act in good faith in such
matters, and it is only fair to them to say when they assist
that
travellers to obtain scarabs, etc., which turn out on careful
examination to be modern imitations, they themselves have
been deceived. Learned Egyptologists often disagree as to the
genuineness of certain classes of antiquities. Many Egyptians
who offer to escort the tourist and call themselves dragomans,
are neither authorized nor qualified to act as such, and they
bring discredit on Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son’s carefully
chosen, well-informed dragomans.
Travelling Arrangements of Thos. Cook & Son.
The Travelling Coupons issued by Thos. Cook & Son are
now so well known and universally used that it is unnecessary
here to enter into particulars about them. Sufficient to say
that they have been found to be advantageous to all European
travellers, and in the East, where travelling is under greater
difficulties in every respect, their system is indispensable to
those who are unable to grapple with the obstacles presented
by not being acquainted with Oriental languages, and by
having to deal with dragomans and others whose demands
are invariably exorbitant.
Thos. Cook & Son have made such arrangements in the East
that themost inexperienced travellers may avail themselves of
them without fear of not being able to get on as well as on the
beaten Continental routes. They issue tickets for individuals,
or for small or large parties, and every season they organize
— —
22 TRAVELLING AND HOTEL COUPONS.
parties who under the superintendence of one of their

travel
capable conductors. Each year they publish a pamphlet
staff of
giving details of their Conducted and Independent Eastern
Tours, and to this the traveller is referred, as the cost of a tour
varies according to circumstances, and general arrangements
are liable to variation Those who propose making a Tour to
Egypt, with extension to Palestine, Sinai, or elsewhere, should
make out a programme, and mention the places they wish to
visit, and Thos. Cook & Son will send them promptly a quo-
tation which will represent the lowest price possible for which
the journey can be accomplished with comfort.
Hotel Coupons are issued not only for the countries
passed through in reaching the East, but in the East also, and
at such a rate as to ensure economy with comfort. Hotel
Coupons save the traveller time, expense, and annoyance, and
since the rate of charges is fixed and uniform, the cost of the
tour can be estimated before the traveller leaves home.
Coupons are issued for the following Hotels at the rates
shown. Coupons for use in Cairo, Luxor, or Aswan, can only
be purchased before arrival in Egypt :
The hotel coupons in operation in Egypt are as follows :
M. (blue), 10 /- per day.

N. (pink), 12/- per day.
O. (buff), 13/- per day.
P. (white) 15/- per day.
These provide for bedroom, lights, service, and all regular meals in accord-
ance with the ordinary provision of Eastern hotels. Special coupons
only are available at the hotels in Aswan, Luxor and Khartum.
—
ALEXANDRIA. Windsor Hotel and Hotel Metropole, 10/- Grand ;
Hotel, 12/- Savoy Palace Hotel, 13/-, except Jan., Feb., and March,
;
then 15/-. Electric Light is charged for extra, i.e ., 2 piastres per day.
ASWAN. — Cataract and Savoy Hotels, from November 15th to Decem-
ber 15th, and from March 15th to close of season, double room 15/-
per day each, single room 16/- per day; from Dec. 15th to 31st,
double room 16/- per day each, single room 18/- per day; from
January 1st to 31st, double room 1 8/- per day each, single room 20 /-
per day from February 1st to March 5th, double room 20/- per day
;
each, single room 22/- per day from March 6th to 15th, double
;
room or single room 18/- per day each. Apartments en suite with
drawing room and toilet by special arrangement.
Grand Hotel, during November and December, double room or single
room 15/- per day each from January 1st to 31st, double room 15/-
;
per day each, single room 16/- per day ; from February 1st to end of
season, double room 16/- per day each ; single room 18/- per day.
BULKELEY-RAMLEH (near Alexandria). —
Carlton Hotel, 12/-.
—
CAIRO. Hotel Bristol, from April 1st to December 31st, 10 /- per day ;
during January, February, and March, 13/- per day.
Eden Palace Hotel, May 1st to December 31st, 10/- per day ;
January 1st to April 30th, 12/- per day.
;
HOTELS. 2 3
New Khedivial Hotel, April 1st to December 31st, 10/- per day ;
January
1st to March 31st, 12/- per day.
Hotel Metropole (except in January, February, and March), 10/- per
day ; during January, February, and March, 12/- per day.
Hotel Villa Victoria, from April 1st to November 30th, 10/- per day ;
from December 1st to March 31st, 12/- per day.

Mena House Hotel (Pyramids) during November, December, and April,
I 3 /“ P er day during January, February, and March, 15/- per day.
;
National Hotel, 15/- per day during January, February, and March 13/- ;
per day during December 12/- per day April to November.

;
Shepheard’s Hotel, Ghezireh Palace Hotel, Grand Continental Hotel,

Hotel d’Angleterre, Hotel Semiramis, and Hotel Savoy, 15/- per day.
(The following supplement will be required during January, February,
and March only —
Shepheard’s, Ghezireh Palace, Semiramis, and
:
—
Grand Continental Hotels 4/- single 2/- double room per person ;
—
Hotel d’Angleterre 2/- single ; 1/- double room per person; Savoy
—
Hotel 5/- single 3/- double room per person. These rates include
;
lights, bedroom, plain breakfast, dejeuner, and table d’hote dinner.)

In addition to the issue of coupons for the hotels in Cairo,
accommodation of any description, from single rooms to
suites of apartments, may be reserved in advance through
Thos. Cook & Son.
HELIOPOLIS. — Heliopolis House Hotel, from April 1st to Dec. 31st,
IO/- per day ; from January 1st to March 31st, 1 2/- per day.
HELWAN. — Grand Hotel and A1 Playat Hotel, 15/- per day. (The
following supplements will be required during January, February, and
March only —
4/- single room per person, 2/- double room per person.
:
These rates include lights, bedroom, plain breakfast, dejeuner, and

table d’hbte dinner.)
Ilelwan Hotel, 15/- Grand Hotel des Bains, 12/-.
KHARTUM. — Royal Hotel, 10/-; Grand Hotel, 20/-.
LUXOR. — Luxor Winter Palace, from beginning of season to Jan. 31st,
and March 16th double room 18/- per day each,
to close of season,
single room 20/- per day; February 1st to March 15th, double room
20/- per day each, single room 22/- per day. Apartments en suite and
bedrooms with bath and toilet can be engaged by special arrangement.
Luxor Hotel, during November and December, and from March 16th to
close of season, double room or single room 15/- per day each ;
January 1st to 31st, double room 16/- per day each, single room 17/-
per day February 1st to March 15th, double room 16J- per day each,
;
single room 18/- per day. Apartments en suite by special arrangement.

PORT SA‘ID. — Eastern Exchange Hotel, 13/-; Hotel Continental,
10/-; Savoy Hotel, 12/-.
SUEZ.— Savoy Hotel, 10/-.
For information as to Hotels in Egypt and elsewhere,
latest
number of Cook's Traveller's
travellers are referred to the current
Gazette (published monthly), price 3r/., by post 5 d.
Routes to Egypt.
Starting from traveller may journey to Egypt
London, the
the whole way by sea, or he may use one of the quicker trans-
—
24 THE JOURNEY UP THE NILE.
continental routes. To those who have sufficient time, and

who are either indifferent or superior to sea-sickness, the long
sea route offers many attractions; it occupies from 12 to 14
days. The principal long sea routes to Egypt are
From London, by the Peninsular and Oriental, and Orient,
Anchor, Patrick, Henderson, Papayani, and Royal Mail lines.
From Liverpool, by the Bibby, Moss, and other lines of
steamers.
From Southampton, by the Norddeutscher Lloyd, as well as
by numerous others sailing at more or less irregular intervals.
If the traveller decide to employ one of the trans-continental
routes, he may embark at Marseilles, Trieste, Venice, Genoa,
Naples, or Brindisi, from which ports there is frequent
communication with Egypt. For full particulars as to the days
and hours of sailing, fares, insurance, registered baggage, etc.,
apply to any of the offices of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son.
The Journey up the Nile.

The four principal methods of ascending the Nile are :
1. By the Dahabiyyah, a large, comfortable boat, which is
propelled either by steam or wind. Modern dahabiyyahs have

steel hulls, and them the internal arrangements,
in the best of
furniture, fittings, leave very little to be desired.
etc., The
dahabiyyah represents the most luxurious, but at the same time
the most expensive, means of travelling on the Nile ; it secures
absolute privacy, and guarantees perfect independence of move-
ment to the party on board. The drawback to the use of the
sailing dahabiyyah is the chance of encountering contrary winds,
but this may be entirely obviated by the employment of steam
tugs, a number of which are always available at short notice.
The use of steam dahabiyyahs is on the increase, and Thos.
Cook & Son possess eight vessels of this class, which are fitted
with every requirement for the convenience of private parties,
viz., “Chonsu,” “ Serapis,” “ Oonas,” “ Hyksos,” “Sudan,”
“ Nitocris,” “ Seti,” and “ Scarab.” The “ Nitocris ” is specially
adapted for a private party, and possesses accommodation for
eight persons. The price, including every charge for main-
tenance and sight-seeing ashore, but exclusive of wines, spirits,
etc., is, for four persons, £440 per month ;
andfor six, £605 ;
for eight,£742.
2. By the Tourist Steamers, one or more of which leave
Cairo every week during the season. For a description of these

steamers see Thos. Cook & Son’s “ Egypt and the Nile,” a
—
THE JOURNEY UP THE NILE. 25
Programme of Cook’s Arrangements for Visiting Egypt, the

Nile, Soudan, etc., issued gratuitously on application. A
voyage on these steamers is made with absolute certainty and
punctuality from point to point, and the whole of the most
interesting sights on the Nile —
temples, ancient remains of all
kinds, bazaars, native life, etc. —
are brought to the traveller
with the minimum of expenditure of wear and tear. The
voyage from Cairo to the First Cataract and back lasts two
or three weeks, and the fares are as under :
Fares for Three Weeks’ Voyage by First-Class Tourist Steamer*

From Cairo to the First Cataract and back, First-Class throughout ^50
For the few steamers with exceptionally large and specially fitted berths £60
For Suites on s.s. “ Egypt,” accommodating 2 persons, per passenger ^85
(Exclusive use by one passenger, £150.)
Fare for Two Weeks’ Voyage by Tourist Steamer “Amasis,”

“Ramesis III,” or “Tewfik” only.
From Cairo by Rail to Asyut, and from Asyut to Aswan and back,
by Steamer, Rail to Cairo, including living on the Steamers and
all sight-seeing charges as detailed below ... ... ^35
The foregoing fares include living on the Steamers, all necessary travelling expenses,
donkeys, English saddles for ladies, boats to cross the river when necessary, according
to the Itinerary, as well as boats for visiting Philas and the Cataract, the services of the
dragomans and guides where necessary, and bakshish to guides, etc., leaving it optional,
as in all steamboat arrangements, for the passengers to give what they think well to the
servants on the steamer.
3. By the —
Express Steamer. These steamers, which
formerly carried the mails, leave Cairo every Friday up to the
end of the season, with additional departures every Monday
from December until the end of March. The main object of this
service is to afford a more rapid and more economical form of
conveyance for travellers who are limited as to time, or who are
anxious to reach their destination higher up the Nile at a
|
moderate price and with the least possible delay. The voyage
from Cairo to Aswan and back lasts 19 days. The fare is £22.
4. By Rail and Steamer combined. —
In the interests of
those travellers who cannot spare the time to ascend the Nile
all the way by steamer, Thos. Cook & Son, by an arrangement
with the Egyptian Railway Administration, now issue combined
rail and steamer tickets, in connection with the Express Service,
which allow parts of the journey to be performed by rail and
parts by steamer. The fares for these combined tours are given
in the time-tables of the Egyptian Railway Administration, and
in Thos. Cook & Son’s Programme.
—
N.B. A Decree has been issued by H.H. the Khedive of
Egypt levying a tax on all travellers who wish to visit the
26 TICKETS FOR VISITING TEMPLES, TOMBS, ETC.
monuments, temples, etc., in Egypt, such tax to be devoted to

the maintenance and preservation of the monuments, temples,
etc. ; therefore Thos. Cook & Son have to inform all travellers
taking tickets for their steamers that the various fares indicated
in this book do not include such tax, which will have to be
paid by the traveller at the Cairo Office before leaving for the
Nile voyage, or at the Egyptian Museum, when a card admitting
him to inspect the monuments will be given to him.
Tickets to visit Antiquities are available from July ist
for 12 months.
a. For the whole of Egypt ... 120 piastres (24s. Sd.).
Obtainable of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, at the
Egyptian Museum at Cairo, and of the Inspector at
Luxor.
b. Gizah Pyramids, ascent or entrance, each 10 piastres.
Obtainable at Gizah Pyramids.
c. Sakkarah ... ... ... ... ... 5 piastres.
Obtainable at the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, and of
Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, and of the Official in
charge of Antiquities at Sakkarah.
The Traveller in Egypt. —
The traveller who visits Egypt
time will certainly be delighted with the country, but
for the first
it is probable that he will not admire the natives with whom he
will come in contact until he knows them fairly well. The

Egyptians in general, until quite recently, have, like other
Muhammadans, never been accustomed to travel, and they
look upon those who wander from country to country as beings
who are possessed of restless though harmless devils. Like
their more fanatical co-religionists and kinsmen in Mesopotamia,
they believe that the ancient Egyptians were idolaters and very
wicked people, and that God destroyed them, and blotted out
their kingdoms and buried their palaces and temples, because
of their iniquity. That anyone should wish to make excava-
tions for the love of learning or the advancement of science is
more than they can understand, and, the older generation
regard all those who do work of this kind as wicked men.
“ How do you dare to dig up what God hath buried ?” said a
native to the writer some years ago, and even when it was
pointed out to him that the smallest object could not be dug
up “ unless God willed it,” he was discontented with the
explanation. Egyptians of the “old school,” and especially
those who have been much in contact with the orthodox
Turkish official, still believe that the “Frangi,” or European
THE EGYPTIAN CHARACTER. 27
traveller, has some ulterior motive in going about the country,

and nothing will induce them to realize that the love of travel,
and the wish to see new cities and new peoples, will draw men
from their homes into remote countries. The younger genera-
tion, though not generally fanatical, is as sceptical about the
traveller’s motives as his elders, only, seeing that money is to be
made out of the “ Frangi,” he conceals his doubts, and devotes
himself to making money out of him. The Egyptian knows
that the possession of money will enable him to keep wives, to
dress well, and to gratify his desires for pleasure ; he therefore
loses no opportunity of getting money from the stranger, whom
he believes to possess an inexhaustible supply of gold and
silver. Speaking generally, the traveller has very little oppor-
and he must by
tunity of seeing the better class of Egyptians,
no means judge the nation by those who minister to his wants
in the great cities. The Egyptian, the worst side of whose
character has not been developed by cupidity, is a very
estimable individual. He is proud of his religion, but is
tolerant to a remarkable degree; it must never be forgotten
that the strictest Muhammadans despise the Christian faith in
their hearts, although Christians are everywhere treated with
civility. As the result of their religion, the Egyptians are
benevolent and charitable to the poor, and they are extremely
hospitable ; they are cheerful, affable, easily amused, and many
are temperate and frugal. They love their homes and their
native villages, and when they are compelled by the exigencies
of military service to leave them, large numbers of young men
regularly transmit money to their parents and relatives to keep
them from want. It has been wisely remarked by Lane that
the Egyptian has no gratitude in his composition, and the
traveller will discover for himself that even after he has paid
a man lavishly for trivial services he will be met with the
demand for bakshish. Partly through climatic influences,
partly through constitution, and partly through his intense
fatalism, the Egyptian in all classes is lazy, and he will never
do more than he is absolutely compelled to do. Truthfulness
is very rare in modern Egypt, but this is in many cases only
the natural result of loose and inaccurate thinking. The views

of the Egyptian about his womankind are not of an exalted
character, but he has only himself to thank for this so long as
he adheres to the abominable system of divorce which is
common throughout the country. In judging the Egyptian
the traveller must make allowance for the centuries of oppres-
)
28 THE EGYPTIAN CHARACTER.
sion and misery through which he has passed, and remember

that in many cases he should be treated with a kind but firm
hand, as if he were a child. He is quick to appreciate just
and humane treatment. And he has grasped the idea of
honour and the trust that may be placed in an Englishman’s
word or promise which generations of English travellers in
Egypt have left behind them. The influences which have
been brought to bear upon him in recent years have already
produced important results ; but unless he makes a radical
change in his domestic arrangements, he will never be able to
employ to the best advantage the benefits which the civilization
of the West has brought to his land. In exceptional cases
Europeans have made lasting friendships with Egyptians, but
such friendships have not included their families, for the
all-sufficient reason that women are never allowed to form
friendships of this kind. Marriage between Europeans and
natives is to be strongly deprecated. The most potent factor
in the change which is now passing over Egypt is the progress
of female education in Egypt. Formerly parents sent their
daughters to school reluctantly, and took them away early,
and to encourage the education of girls it was necessary to
admit many to the schools free. Free education has now
been abolished to all intents and purposes, and yet the demand
for private schools for girls has greatly increased. The advance
in the education of boys has stimulated female education, for
the younger generation are beginning to demand that their
wives should possess some qualifications other than those which
can be secured in the seclusion of the harivi. Where educa-
tion has madeprogress the age of marriage has risen, and thus
it seems that girls are allowed to remain longer at school than
was the custom formerly. In 1900, about 2,050 girls attended

the 271 village schools which were under Government inspec-
tion ; the number of such schools was, in 1906, 2,053, and
the number of pupils in attendance 12,006. The attempt made
to create special village schools ( Kuttabs ) for girls has been
eminently successful.
The number of girls taught in village schools ( Kuttabs rose
from 17,000 in 1908 to 22,094 in 1910, and during the last five
years the number of girls’ kuttabs has increased by 60 per cent.,
and the number of pupils by 122 per cent. At the Bfilak Nor-
mal School for women teachers in kuttabs there were in 1909
some 60 students undergoing training, and 14 passed the final
examination, all but one of whom have received appointments.
THE EGYPTIAN CHARACTER, 29
The abolition of the use of the kurbash, i.e ., of corporal

punishment, by Lord Dufferin, early in 1883, has had effects
which were not contemplated by him. As soon as the whip
was abolished the people refused to work, and Lord
Cromer said that the period which followed its abolition
“ caused him greater anxiety than any other ” during his
lengthened Egyptian experience. Another result was that
life and property became insecure, and Nubar Pasha was
obliged to appoint “ Commissions of Brigandage,” that is, to
introduce martial law. The Egyptian has also learned that no
one can be punished for a crime unless he is proved to be
guilty, and that proof of guilt which will satisfy the law courts
is hard to get. The result has been that large numbers of
guilty people have escaped punishment, and throughout the
country the people have little respect for the law. The-
inability of the governors to use the whip is the cause of the
present state of unrest among a certain class of Egyptians, and
it isclear that only corporal punishment will reduce this class
to order and obedience.
We are glad to say that during the last two or three years
measures have been taken by Sir Eldon Gorst which have had
a very beneficial effect on the native mind. Notorious
criminals have been deported and placed under police super-
vision, and now that natives see that the Government is in
earnest, men are ready to come forward and act as witnesses
in cases whilst they are being tried. In 1909, some 2,589
juveniles were whipped in the prisons, and 3,631 in 1910;
and 240 habitual criminals were sent to reformatories for an
indefinite period. The number of prisoners at the end of 1910
was 12,449. Aproof of the salutary nature of the new regula-
tions is shown by the fact that the number of criminals
(murderers, thieves, etc.), which rose from 1,744 in 1907-8
to 2,004 m
1908-9, fell to 1,444 in 1909-10, as the result of
their application for six months. The new regulations have
given great satisfaction throughout the country. The system
of deportation works well, and 272 criminals were sent to the
Oasis of Dakhlah in 1909. The total strength of the Police
Force was in December, 1910, about 397 officers (60 being
Europeans), and 7,727 non-commissioned officers and men.
bris n£b£mm£rfuM edt In aldsT evihrmqrnoO — .IXX

... ... ... ... rusitehdD
30
PART I.
CHAPTER PAGE
—
I. The Climate and Health Resorts of Egypt ... 31
II.— —
The Land of Egypt. Geology, the Oases, the
Fayyum, Natron Lakes ... ... ... 39
III.— —
The Land of Egypt. Natural History ... 49
IV. — The Trade of Egypt ... ... ... ... 64
V.— —
The Land of Egypt. Ancient and Modern
Divisions, Population, etc. ... ... ... 66
VI. — The White Nile, the Blue Nile, the Atbara,
the Cataracts, Irrigation, etc. ... ... 74
VII.— The Barrages on the Nile ... ... . . 88
VIII. — Ancient Egyptians
The ... ... ... 106
IX. — The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians ... 112
X. — Egyptian Gods... ... ... ... ... 124
XI. — The Egyptian Language and Writing ... 133
XII. — Hymn Ra, from the Papyrus of Ani
to ... 144
XIII. — The Learning of the Ancient Egyptians ... 153
XIV. — A Listof the Names of the Principal Egyptian
Kings ... ... ... ... ... 184
XV. — Sketch of the History of Egypt from the Pre-
Dynastic Period 1911
to a.d. ... ... 209
XVI. — The Modern Egyptians ... ... ... 279
XVII. — Muhammadan Architecture and Art Cairo. in . . 292
XVIII. — The Modern Egyptians — Narcotics and Amuse-
ments ... ... ... ... ... 313
XIX. — Sketchof the History of the Arabs, and of
Muhammad and his Kur’an, Religious
Beliefs, etc. ... ... ... ... ... 322
XX.— Financial Policy
British Egypt in ... ... 357
XXL — Comparative Table of the Muhammadan and
Christian Eras ... ... ... ... 365
1
3
CHAPTER I.
The Climate and Health Resorts of Egypt.
The wonderful climate of Egypt is due entirely to the

geographical situation of the country. A glance at a map
of the two Egypts shows that the climate of Lower Egypt,
i.e., the Delta, must, on account of its proximity to the
Mediterranean Sea, and the arms of the Nile and the large
canals which flow from them, be different from that of Upper
Egypt, i.e., the Nile Valley between Cairo and Aswan, which
has the vast Libyan Desert on the one side and the Arabian
or Eastern Desert on the other. The most northerly cities
and towns in the Delta have the usual sea-side climate which
the traveller expects to find in that latitude, with the customary
warmth and humidity at night ; but the cities and towns in
Upper Egypt enjoy a much drier climate both by day and
by night. In certain parts of the Delta, where practically
whole districts are covered with growing crops which are
frequently irrigated, and even in the Fayyum, the temperature
drops considerably at sunset, and continues comparatively
low through the night, and the air contains much moisture.
Beyond all doubt, the climate of Egypt as a whole deserves
the highest praise which can be given to it : for dryness it is
nearly unparalleled, and the regular and unvarying warmth
and sunshine combined make the country a health resort in
the truest sense of the word. It should be distinctly under-
stood that the sick and delicate need medical advice in
selecting the sites which will be the most beneficial for their
ailments, and care should be taken that the advice comes from
a physician who has a practical, first-hand knowledge of the
country and of the climatic peculiarities which are characteristic
of its most popular health resorts.
The wind in Egypt usually blows from the north or

north-west, but in the winter it often comes from the south-
west,and is at times extremely cold. In the late spring there
blows a wind from the south-west which is commonly known as
32 THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT.
Khamsin,* i.e., “ Fifty,” because it blows at intervals during

a period of 50 days. Sometimes it blows with terrific violence,
and brings with it a mass of sand which it has picked up in
the deserts it has crossed, and for heat its blast is like the
breath of a furnace; fortunately it only blows for about a
couple of days at a time. Rain falls oftener in Cairo and
Alexandria than formerly, a fact which has been attributed by
some to the increased area of land which is irrigated. The
total rainfall at Cairo is about 2 inches, and at Alexandria it is
much greater; at the latter place it was 12*81 inches in 1897 ;
12*31 inches in 1898; 9*67 inches in 1899; 7*87 inches in
1900 ; 7*62 inches in 1901 ; and 10*13 inches in 1902. In
recent years heavy rains have fallen in Upper Egypt during
the winter ; but, speaking generally, very little rain falls at
Aswan and Luxor. It is, however, a mistake to declare that
it never rains in Upper Egypt. Dew
is heavy in all places
where crops grow and in Cairo, but the further south we go the
less dew will be met with until we reach Aswan, where there
is practically none. Temperature The coldest time of the
:
day is a little before sunrise, and the hottest about 3 p.m. ; it

is colder in fields where crops are growing than in the desert,
0 0
and in Upper Egypt 2 or 3 of frost in the fields are not
uncommon in the winter. In March and April the tempera-
ture at Cairo is about 8o° ; a little later it rises from 10 to 15°,
and in winter it falls to about 65° or 6o°. The mean annual
temperature at Cairo is 70° ; the mean summer temperature
is 85° ;
and the mean winter temperature about 58°. The
0
greatest heat in summer is about 125 in the shade. The
greatest difference in the temperature during the day takes
place at Aswan and equals about 30°.
The Tables given below were drawn up by Capt. H. G.
Lyons in 1906; but if they be compared with those published
in the Almanack issued by the Survey Department year by
year since that date, it will be seen that the variations are very
slight, and that for all practical purposes they are unimportant.
* The Arabs who speak correctly do not say Khamsin but Khamdsin
, }
which is really the vulgar plural ol Khamsin ,

“fifty.” The proper
word for the period here referred to is Khamsdn, which does not necessarily
contain 50 days ; there may be a few days more or a few days less in it,
according to the weather of the particular year. The word Khamsin also
means “ Pentecost*” but the period ofr the Te wish vear. which corresponds
21 ffotnw tow-nluoa orb moil bmw js awofd

. !
THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT. 33
Mean Monthly Temperature (Centigrade),

(From Tables compiled by Capt. H. Lyons, R.E.)
1
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May J une July Aug. Sept.J Oct. Nov. Dec.
j
Cairo 12-3 13*3 16*9 21*2 24*8 27*7 28*6 28*1 25*6 23*6 18*9 14*8
Giza TO '9 13*0 15*2 19*3 22*7 24*8 25*7 26*1 24*0 22*0 17*1 12*9
Beni Suwef 12*6 l 4 ’l i6*8 20*8 24*9 26*9 28*1 27*2 25*3 23*2 i 3*5 15*0
Asyut io‘6 I 3-5 16*9 21*9 25*8 28*7 29*9 29*5 26*6 23*6 * 7*8 13*8
1
Luxor T 5*4 x 7’4 2 " 1 24*1 16*9
Aswan (Rest 16*8 ’
I7 5 20*9 26*6 30*3 33*3 i
33*9 32*0 30*4 28-6 23*6 18*2
Camp)
Aswan (Reservoir) i 4 *S 18*5 21*4 1 26*1 30*0 32*4 !
32*7 32*4 30*3 27*9 :
21*7 17*0
Mean Maximum Temperature (Centigrade).

Cairo i8'2 21*1 24*2 28*6 32 '6 35 *i ;
36*1 34*9 32
’2 30*1 24 3 20*2
Giza 19-1 22*2 i
24*5 28*8 32*2 342 34*9 34*9 32*5 30*7 25*6 21*3
|
Beni Suwef i 9‘5 20*9 1

2 4*2 28*3 32*5 34*3 34*9 j 3‘4 30*8 29*1 24*8 21*5
Asyut 20*2 24*7 28*4 32*5 36*6 37*7 !
37*9 37*8 34 *o 3**3 2 7*7 22*5
1
32*1 *!
Luxor 23*1 25*5
1
29*4 ** 31 24*3
Aswan
1
( Rest 23*8 24*2 28-9 33*6 39*3 42*3 42*3 39*2 37*6 35*8 29*6 24*9
Camp)
Aswan (Reservoir) 22*9 '
28*0 1
3 I*1 36*2 39*i 4 r *4
1
4**5 41*9 39 *7 !
38*8 3 t *7 27*3
Mean Minimum Temperature (Centigrade).

Cairo 6*9 8*2 9*9 12*8 15*9 i
*8*5 20*8 20*8 18*9 17*1 12*3 8*8
I
Giza 6*3 7*2 9*o 11 ‘9 14*6 17*4 19*0 20*1 l8*2 16*5 n*9 8*2
Beni Suwef 5*8 7*2 9*5 13*2 19*6 21*3 21*0 19*7 U*3 12*2 8-5
U’3 ;
Asyut 4*7 6*7 9*4 14*0 18*5 21*2 22*6 22*9 20*7 U*4 10*9 7’o
|
Luxor 7*6 9*3 12*7 16*1 . 12*9 9*6

Aswan (Rest 9*9 10*7 T 2*9 18*7 21*3 24*3 25*5 24*8 23*3 21*2 17*5 it*5
Camp) j
Aswan (Reservoir) 9*o *U5 13*8 18*3 22*0 24*2 ;

24*7 25*0 23*0 20*7 15*3 I1 '4
1 1
1
Dryness of the air : No matter how hot the weather, the

airof Egypt is always light, fresh, and invigorating, and in places
which are quite away from cultivated lands only a minute amount
of moisture exists in it. Another important characteristic of
the Egyptian climate is its uniformity, and in this respect it
probably is unique. How long this will last it is hard to say,
for there is no doubt that the large surface of water in the
Suez Canal, and the extensive irrigation works which are
increasing yearly, to say nothing of the enormous lake which
has been formed by the waters held up by the Aswan Dam,
have produced local disturbances of the atmosphere, and
contributed in some places to make the winters less dry
and the summers less hot. The evenings and the mornings
are beautifully cool, and the thermometer does not often fall
below 40° in Cairo. The average temperature of Lower
Egypt ranges between 75° and 90° in summer, and between
45° and 6o° in winter, and that of Upper Egypt between 90°
and ioo° in summer, and between 6o° and 70° in winter.
C
.. j
:
34 THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT.
Mean Relative Humidity (per cent.).
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec .
Cairo . .
1
69 65 59 5i 47 47 50 56 62 66 66 70
Giza.. . .1 82 77 70 63 57 57 63 67 73 75 75 81.
Asyut . .
69 66 56 40 3° 3i 36 42 56 62 69 69
Aswan .
. 5r 37 32 30 25 24 22 23 30 •39 34 5i
Relative Humidity (8 or 9 a.m.).

Cairo I
87 84 74 68 65 64 73 76 80 80 77
Giza .
76 68 59 45 36 40 45 48 60 67 72
Asyut !
59 32 24 19 14 18 19 18 27 28 36
Aswan 58 48 38 34 29 28 27 28 37 42 47
Relative Humidity (2 or 3 p.m.).

Cairo .. 47 40 34 27 24 25 27 S2 39 42 45 49
Giza . •• 51 42 39 36 30 33 36 36 44 52 44 50
Asyut •• 34 44 24 21 16 17 22 22 31 •38 48 46
Aswan .. 30 22 17 U 15 15 13 T
3 18
1
22 25 3°
The principal health resorts of Egypt are Alexandria,

Cairo, Mena House and Helwan, both near Cairo, Luxor, and
Aswan.
Alexandria possesses a healthy sea-shore climate, which is
on the whole drier than that of Cairo. The mean rainfall is
about 8*57 inches, and the mean temperature 69° F. = 20*5° C. ;
The mean winter temperature is 6o° F., and, generally speaking,

Alexandria is warmer by night than Cairo. The prevailing
wind blows from the north in summer, and from the north-
west in winter. Close to Alexandria is Ramleh, which is much
frequented by tourists and residents who wish to live close to
the sea.
Mean Temperature (Centigrade).
Jan. !
Feb. Mar. Apr. Mayl June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
|
Alexandria .. 14*2 i5*5 17*0 19*2 21*9 24*3 26*2 26*9 2 5’9 1
24*1 *9’9 16*2
Port Sa‘id . . i4'o i5*3 16*9 19' 1 22*0 24*7 27*0 27*6 26'5 24*9 20*3 i6*i
j
Isma'iliya 13*2 15*2 20*8 2 3’9 26*5 28*5 28*3 26*1 23-8 18-7 i5*i
. .
U'5 !
Suez 18*0
j
.. 13*6 I 5‘5 21*7 25*3 27*6 29*4 29*2 27*1 2 4'8 i

9 -i 1
I 5’4
;
Cairo possesses a dry and salubrious climate in winter, and

the city is time with seekers after health and
thronged at that
pleasure. It is the headquarters of the Egyptian Government,
and the visitor may, if he pleases, amuse and interest himself
from morning to night for some weeks. The climate is not so
dry as formerly, and in recent years the cold in winter has
become sufficiently intense to necessitate the building of fire-
;
HEALTH RESORTS. 35
grates in dwelling and other houses. In December, January,

and February, the mornings and evenings are often very cold.
Rain falls on from 25 to 30 days, and the sky is often overcast
by clouds which are blown over the city by a strong wind from
the north-west. In April the Khamsin wind makes Cairo hot
and stifling, and in the summer the heat and moisture together
make it close.
Each year that passes brings with it a considerable improve-
ment in Cairo as a health resort, and the authorities spare
neither pains nor expense in the carrying out of systems of
drainage and other sanitary works, and in the cleansing of all
parts of the city. The modern hotels are large, commodious
buildings, which have been planned with due regard to the
comfort, well-being, and health of European and American
travellers, and the most approved methods of ventilation and
sanitation have been adopted in them. The regular sweeping,
cleansing, and watering of the streets, and the abolition of
several old, narrow streets of houses, have made the European
quarter of Cairo, in which the hotels are situated, an extremely
pleasant place in which to live. The native quarters of the
city of Cairo also have for years past occupied the serious
attention of the Government, and the Egyptian is no longer
allowed to live amid dust and dirt as formerly. Many of the
streets in the native quarters of the city are now paved with
asphalt, some Ê.30,000 having already been spent in this
work alone; and Ê. 11,000 was spent in making the new
thoroughfare called the “ Boulevard Abbas ” in 1 905. At the pre-
sent time more than one-half of the roads and streets in Cairo
are paved. In 1902 it was decided to devote a sum of
Ê. 10,000 a year to establish free taps in Cairo from which
the poorer classes could obtain pure water, and the Govern-
ment voted Ê. 20,000 to enable the Water Company to
improve the quality and increase the supply. That such
measures tend to promote the general health of the whole
city is too obvious to need mention, and when all the
schemes now under discussion have been carried out, Cairo
will be as healthy a dwelling-place as any large Oriental city
can be.
Mena House was built by Mr. Locke-King, and is situated
on the skirt of the Libyan Desert, near the Great Pyramid of
Cheops, about eight miles from Cairo. The air here is cleaner,
drier, and fresher than at Cairo, but the cold at night in
December, January, and February is sometimes unpleasant
c 2
;
36 MENA HOUSE AND HELWAN.
in November, and in the latter part of March and April, the

weather is perfect. In addition to health a variety of amuse-
ments may be obtained here, and Cairo is easily reached by
means of the electric tramway.
Helwan is a small town which lies on the right or east
bank of the Nile, about 16 miles to the south of Cairo, and
contained in [907 about 4,119 inhabitants. This town, which
stands about halfway between the river and the irrigated lands,
owes its importance entirely to the sulphur and salt springs
which come to the surface here in great abundance ; the water
has a temperature of 91°, and the percentage of sulphur and
salt held in solution is very large. These sulphur springs are
thought by some to have been famous in very ancient days,
and their healing properties were probably well known to those
who gave to the place where they rise the name of “ Helwan.”
Fresh water is brought into the town from the Nile, about
three miles distant. The air of Helwan is clean and free from
sand and dust, and the restfulness of the place is very grateful
from the middle of November to the middle of April the
climate is most beneficial for the sick and suffering. The baths
which have been built during the last few years leave little to
be desired, and it is not to be wondered at that it has recently
become the fashion for the inhabitants of Cairo to resort there.
The springs have been found specially beneficial in the various
forms of skin disease to which residents in so hot a climate are
subject. The late Khedive, Tawfik, built a little palace there,
and his luxurious bath-house may still be inspected. Helwan is
easily reached by trains which run frequently, the journey lasting
0
from3oto45 minutes. The Observatory at Helwan (lat. 29 5 l'
0
33*5" N., long. 31 20' 30-2" E., altitude 115 metres) is open
to visitors from 3 to 5 p.m. daily, and at other hours by
permission of the Superintendent. A Reynolds’ 30-inch
reflector has recently been mounted there, and a “comparator,”
for determining with precision the length of bars by comparing
them with the standard 4-metre compound bar of platinum
and brass, has been erected in a double-walled building.
Luxor lies on the right or bank of the Nile, about
east
450 miles and can be easily and com-
to the south of Cairo,
fortably reached both by boat and by train. The wind is far
less strong at Luxor than at the northern health resorts, the
climate is more equable, the air is drier, sunshine is constant,
rain falls very rarely, and the regular warmth is extremely
grateful to delicate folk. From December to March it forms
LUXOR AND ASWAN. 37
a most agreeable place to live in, and the Luxor Hotel is well
provided with means for recreation, besides being most
comfortable. There is a church in the hotel grounds, and an
English clergyman ministers during the winter. The temples
of Luxor and Karnak on the east bank, and the temple of
Madinat Habu, the Ramesseum, the Tombs of the Kings, the
great Theban Necropolis, etc., on the west bank, form objects
of the deepest interest, and afford means of occupation, to say
nothing of instruction, which are well-nigh endless. Archaeo-
logical investigations of a most comprehensive character are
being carried out by representatives of the Egyptian and
European Governments, and visitors to Luxor are in the
fortunate position of seeing and hearing of the most recent
discoveries in Egyptology as soon as they are made.
Aswan, at the foot of the First Cataract, is about 583 miles
south of Cairo, and, like Luxor, may be easily and comfortably
reached by boat and train. It is the driest and warmest health
resort in Egypt, and as rain is rare, and there is no dew, the
place forms an ideal abode for invalids and others whose
comfort, or may be their very existence, demands a high
temperature by day and warm, dry nights. The west wind
passes over hundreds of miles of blazing desert, and is almost
as dry as it is possible to be, and the north wind, owing to the
little vegetation near the town, is also extremely dry, and to
these causes must be attributed the wonderful crispness and

bracing quality of the air, which is so beneficial to every
visitor. In recent years large, commodious, and comfortable
hotels have bee*n built, one on the Island of Elephantine, one at
the southern end of the town, and one close to the foot of the
Cataract, and every attention is paid to cleanliness, sanitation,
and drinking water, and three and a half months in winter,
i.e., from the last week in November to the second or third
week in March, may be passed most pleasantly at Aswan. In

January the mornings are cold, but this hardly matters to those
who have not to leave their hotels early ; care should be taken
by boating parties to provide warm wraps if they intend to
remain on the river after sunset, both for comfort’s sake and for
the prevention of chills.
The antiquarian attractions of Aswan are very considerable,
and many weeks may be profitably spent in visiting the various
sites of interest in its neighbourhood. The beautiful little
Island of Philae, with its graceful temples, will afford occupa-
tion and enjoyment for many days, for the attractions of
38 ATTRACTIONS OF ASWAN.
its most characteristic sculptures and pillars are well-nigh

inexhaustible. The picturesque situation of the island, fixed
as it is amid wild and weird
scenery, is fascinating, and few
of those who trouble to visit it several times will
take the
have difficulty in understanding how ideas of admiration and
awe came to grow up in the minds of travellers, both native
and foreign, as they stood and looked upon the sanctuaries
which were made thrice holy by the shrines of Osiris and Isis
of Philse. All the little islands in the cataract to the north of
the Aswan Dam are worth several visits, and the inscriptions on
the rocks, which are found everywhere on them, are of great
interest. One or two expeditions may be made to the ruins
of the Coptic monastery on the west bank of the cataract, and
the tombs of the Vlth and Xllth dynasties, which are on the
same side of the river, and run in terraces along the great hill
immediately opposite Aswan, are among the most attractive of
their class. Delightful rides may be taken near the old granite
quarries, and in the desert further to the east, and the marks
remaining of the methods by which the blocks were got
still
out of the quarries by the ancient Egyptians, to say nothing

of the unfinished colossal statues and obelisk, afford much
material for study. Many visitors take pleasure in tracing out
the old road from Aswan to Philae, and in examining the
remains of the great wall which was built to protect the settle-
ments and forts in the cataract from the attacks of the tribes of
the Eastern Desert ; there are also numerous inscriptions to be
seen on the rocks by the way. To many visitors the camp of
the Bisharin is a source of great amusement, and now that the
bazaars are once more becoming filled with the products of the
handiwork of the tribes of the Southern Sudan, they are of
considerable interest. The sense of physical well-being, which
is obtained by riding in the desert in this delightful place, is
rarely forgotten by those who have experienced it. Those who

are attracted by desert scenery will derive great pleasure from
a journey to Daraw, along the old caravan road which runs
due north of Aswan. Even in fairly hot weather the air is
light and relatively cool, and very interesting mirages are
frequently seen.
39
CHAPTER II.
The Land of Egypt. — Geology, the Oases, the

Fayyum, Natron Lakes.
Egypt lies in the north-east corner of the continent of Africa,

and isbounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north, by
the Sudan on the south, by Southern Syria and the Eastern
Desert and Red Sea on the east, and by the Libyan Desert
on the west. The limits of Egypt have varied considerably
at different periods, but, speaking generally, we may at the
present time consider Egypt to be that portion of the Valley
of the Nile which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and
the Island of Faras, which is the most northerly point of the
Sudan Government, and is 20 miles north of Wadi Halfah,
0 0
i.e., between 22 and 31 30' north latitude. The 22nd parallel
crosses the Nile at Gebel Sahabah, 8 miles from the Camp of
Wadi Halfah. The Camp
is 802 miles from Cairo by river,
and Cairo is 161 miles from the mouth of the Rosetta Arm of
the Nile, and no miles from the lighthouse of Burlus
(Borollos). Its limit on the east is a point slightly to the
east of Al-‘Arish, the ancient Rhinocolura, and the frontier
which divides Egypt from Turkey in Asia is marked by a line
drawn directly from ARArish to the head of the Gulf of
‘Akabah. The Peninsula of Sinai forms now, as it has for the
last 6,000 years, a portion of Egypt. On the west the frontier is
represented by a line drawn from the Gulf of Solum, due south,
to a point a little to the south-west of the Oasis of Siwah ; from
this point it proceeds in a south-easterly direction to the
22nd parallel of north latitude near Wadi Halfah. It must,
however, never be forgotten that Egypt proper in reality consists
only of the River Nile and of the land which is watered by
the main stream and its branches, and this being so, the
deserts which are included within the limits given above may
be considered to possess significance from a political point of
view only. The matter was well summed up by the Greek
—
40 LAND OF EGYPT— GEOLOGY,
historian Herodotus,* who declared (Book II, §§ 17, 18) that

“ the whole country inhabited by Egyptians is Egypt, as that
inhabited by Cilicians is Cilicia, and that by Assyrians, Assyria.”
He further gave it in his opinion that the country of Egypt
comprised all the land which was watered by the Nile, and
stated that this opinion was supported by Divine authority. It
appears that certain peoples who lived in the Libyan Desert
close to the Delta wished to free themselves from the restriction
of not eating cow’s flesh which had been imposed on them as if
they had been Egyptians, giving as the reasons that they lived
out of the Delta, and that they did not speak the Egyptian
language. When the question was referred to Ammon, the
god replied that “all the country which the Nile irrigated was-
Egypt, and that all these were Egyptians who dwelt below
(/.*., to the north of) the city of Elephantine, and drank of
that river.” As the Nile during the inundation flooded the

country “ said to belong to Libya and Arabia to the extent of
about two days’ journey on either side, more or less,” the
pertinence of the oracle of Ammon is obvious, and it is clear
that the ancients considered Egypt to be the country which
lay between Syene, the modern Aswan, and the Mediterranean.
Sea. Strictly speaking, the area of Egypt varied with the:
annual inundation of the Nile, i.e., it was enlarged during,
a “high ” Nile, and contracted during a “low” one; in recent
years, however, by reason of the improved means of irrigation,,
the area of Egypt has increased year by year, for more and,
more waste land has been gradually brought into cultivation,,
and there is every reason to believe that the absorption of the:
desert will go steadily on for some time to come. In 1888
the area of the unirrigated land was 269,110 acres, but in
1905, in spite of the river levels in June and July. being the
worst ever recorded, the area was only 45,000 acres.
In form Egypt somewhat resembles a lotus, the Nile from;
Cairo to Aswan representing the stem, and the Delta the-
flower. The total area of Egypt is estimated to be between
400,000 and 430,000 square miles.
Geology. The soil of Egypt consists of a very thick layer,
of sedimentary deposits of cretaceous and tertiary ages, which
have been laid down upon the uneven and eroded surface of
a great mass of crystalline rocks which come to the suiface
along the edge of Egypt on the east, and cover large areas ins
* He was born about 480 B.c. and died about 400 b.c.
7 —
GEOLOGY. 41
the Eastern Desert. The depth of these sedimentary deposits

has formed the subject of much discussion, and boring experi-
ments were made by Professor Judd, F.R.S., for the Royal
Society, with the view of finding out where the mud ended and
the rock on which Egypt rests began ; at Zakazik in the Delta
the borers were worked down to a depth of 345 feet, but the
rock was not reached. The layer of mud and sand which
forms the characteristic soil of Egypt came to an end at a
depth of about no feet, and what was found below this depth
consisted of coarse sand, clay, and shingle. The thickness of
the mud soil of Egypt varies at different places. Thus at
Beni Suwef it is only about 36 feet deep, and at Suhak it
is about 56^ feet ; both these places are in the Nile Valley
proper. At Benha and at Kalyub it is 56^ feet and 40 feet

respectively ; both these places are in the Delta. Up to the
present the greatest depth of Nile mud has been found to be
at Zakazik, and here, as said above, it is about no feet deep.*
To-day the Nile is depositing mud on its bed at the rate of
nearly 4 inches in a century, f
The direction of the Nile Valley is generally in a north and
south direction, and this is due to great earth movements
which took place in Miocene times ; and the long depression
now occupied by the Central African Lakes, the lower area
* The results recently obtained by Captain H. G. Lyons are as follows :
Shamarka ... Depth of mud 17 metres.

Simbellawein ... 5 >>
Zagazig ... 13 5 9
Qaliub ... 12*5 ))

Benha ... ,, 17 } j
Cairo ,, 17 >)
Giza ,, 20 } )
Gezira (Cairo) ... 8 )}
Beni Suwef ,, 10 ) j
Tahta ... „ 14 5)
Sohag ... 1 5 J
Tanta ... 8 ) )
Mehallet Roh „ 9 J J
Samanud 12 J J
Kasr-el-Nil „ 15 ) J
Helwan... 19 ff
Luxor ... 15 if
t The resultant effect of this deposition during flood and erosion during
the falling stage of the river has been to raise the river-bed between
Aswan and Cairo at the average rate of about 10 centimetres per century
during the last. 2, 000 or 3,000 years, and certainly for a much longer period.
Lyons, Physiography , p. 313.
42 CRYSTALLINE ROCKS.
south of Abyssinia, the Red Sea, the gulfs of Suez and ‘Akabah,
and the Jordan Valley, is due to extensive fracturing of the
earth’s crust. The line of this fracture can be traced from the
Mediterranean Sea nearly to the First Cataract.* In late
Miocene or early Pliocene times the sea made its way so far
south as Esna, and in doing so it laid down thick deposits of
sand and gravel, and the tributary streams, fed by a rainfall
much heavier than that of to-day, brought down masses of
broken stony matter from the limestone plateaux and piled
them up along the margins of the valley. A rise of the
area turned this arm of the sea into a river valley, and the
deposit of Nile mud and the formation of cultivable land
began.
The crystalline rocks begin in latitude 28° N., and form
the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula and the range of
hills which border the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea, and
extend as far south as the northern boundary of Abyssinia.
In width they gradually increase, reaching two-thirds of the
way to the Nile east of Kena, while at Aswan, Kalabshah, and
Wadi Halfah, and at numerous points further south they occur
in the Valley of the Nile, forming cataracts and gorges, though
often still hidden over large areas east of the Nile by the
Nubian sandstone. The crystalline rocks are at base a gneiss,!
which is overlaid by mica, talc, and chlorite schists, above
which is a very thick volcanic series, and into this are intruded
a grey hornblendic granite and also later a red granite. The
best known of these rocks is the red hornblendic granite of
Aswan, which was used by the Egyptians of all periods for
obelisks, statues, stelae, and temples. Among the rocks of
the volcanic series must be mentioned the famous porphyry,
the quarries of which near the Red Sea were extensively
worked in the Roman period. The three places in Egypt
and Nubia where the old surface of the crystalline rocks
lies nearest to the surface are Aswan, Kalabshah, and Wadi
Halfah, and here the Nile has made cataracts in forcing its way
through them.
The layer of sandstone which lies on the crystalline rocks
covers nearly the whole of Nubia, and extends so far north as
* I am indebted for these facts to the section of Sir W. Willcocks’

Egyptian Irrigation written by Captain Lyons, R. E.
t A word said to be derived from the old German gneista ,
“a spark,”
the allusion being, of course, to the sparkling character of some of the
component parts of the stone.
LAND OF EGYPT — GEOLOGY. 43
Esna, where it is in turn covered over by the clays and lime-

stones of Cretaceous age. It is yellow in colour, and at its
base usually becomes a quartz conglomerate ; it was quarried
chiefly at Kartassi in Nubia and at Silsilah in Egypt, and most
of the temples in the southern part of Egypt and throughout
Nubia are built of it. Above the sandstone in many places lie
a large series of green and grey clays, and thick beds of soft
white limestone; and above these is a very thick layer of soft
white limestone which forms the cliffs of the Nile Valley from
Luxor to Cairo, and furnishes most of the stone used for
building in Egypt.
Another kind of siliceous sandstone is found at Gebel
Ahmar, near Cairo ; this is, in reality, a shallow water deposit,
which has been in many cases cemented into a hard refractory
rock by silica ; this stone was largely used in building temples
in the Delta. On all the above strata thick deposits of sand
and gravel were laid down by the sea which, as has already
been said, ran up as far as Esna in prehistoric times, and
subsequently, under the influence of climatic conditions which
closely resemble those of our own time, river deposits of dark,
sandy mud were laid down at levels which were considerably
higher than the deposits of to-day. There is a complete
absence of fossils in the Nubian sandstone. From Abu
Simbel northwards the Nile Valley is bounded on the west
by a high limestone plateau called Sinn al-Kiddab, which at
this point is about 56 miles from the river, and it gradually
approaches the stream until at Aswan it is only 25 miles
distant, and at Gebelen it marches with the river. North of
Aswan we find two interesting plains, which Sir W. Willcocks
calls the “ plain of Kom Ombo ” and the “ plain of Edffi ” ;
these were once ancient Deltas of rivers coming down from
the high ranges which skirt the Red Sea. The sands and
clays of these belong to an age anterior to the Nile, and are
covered with granite and porphyry pebbles brought down
from the Red Sea range, and have no affinity with those met
with at Aswan, Kalabshah, and Wadi Halfah. About five miles
to the north of the temple of Kom Ombo is a good section
which illustrates the relative positions and depths of the
ancient sandy clay and sand deposits overlaid by the more
recent Nile mud. Limestone is first met with at Al-Raghamah,
a little to the south of Silsilah, and between this place and
Victoria N’yanza there is no other limestone in the Nile
Valley.
;
44 THE FAYYUM AND LAKE MOERIS.
It has been
generally supposed that the pass at Gebel
Silsilah was an ancient cataract of the Nile, but though the
present channel is narrow, yet it is only a branch of the river
the true channel is on the right of the hill in which the quarries
are, and is at present buried under mud and silt.* The word
Silsilah which has become the name of this place, means
,
“ chain,’ f and is usually applied to the cataracts

7
J on the Nile,
but Gebel Silsilah can never have been a cataract, for the Nile
deposits and certain shells are met with north and south of
the pass at exactly the same level, and no change is experienced
until we reach Gebelen, where there is a decided drop in the
level of the ancient deposits. It is probable that a great
cataract existed at Gebelen at a very remote period at least, —
this is what the up-turned and undermined hills at Gebelen
suggest. Between Kena and Cairo the Nile flows between
limestone hills ; the Londinian formation extends to a point
midway between Asyut and Minya, where the lower Parisian
strata appear on the tops of the plateaux. The upper
Londinian strata disappear a little to the north of Minya, and
the lower Parisian formation is now generally met with as far
as Cairo.
The Fayyum, which some have regarded as the first of the
Oases in the Libyan Desert, is in reality a “deep depression

scooped out of the Parisian limestone,” the greater part of the
bed of which is overlaid with thick belts of salted loams and
marls, and upon this Nile mud has been laid down. In
connection with the Fayyum must be mentioned the Birket
al = Kurun, i.e., “ the Lake of the Horns,” a long, narrow lake
which lies to the north-west of the Fayyum province. great A
deal has been written about Birket al-Kurun, both by those
who regard it as a part of the old Lake Moeris and by those
who do not. Modern expert engineering opinion § declares
unhesitatingly that this lake, the water surface of which is
about 130 feet below sea level, is all that remains of Lake
Moeris, and it has, according to the authorities quoted by
Sir W. Wilicocks, been definitely proved that Lake Moeris
* Sir W. Wilicocks, Egyptian Irrigation 2nd ed. p. 7.

, ,
t The allusion is to the rocks, which are regarded as the hollows of the
links of a chain formed by running water.
4 The Arabic word for “cataract” is “ Shallal,” ;

but we have
SalstiZ md ,
“ a stream of running water.”
§ Sir W. Wilicocks, Egyptian Irrigation , p. 9.
LAND OF EGYPT — GEOLOGY. 45
never bad a natural outlet towards the interior of the country,

and that it was never connected in any way with the Wadi
Rayan, which it nearly touched. One of the most extraordinary
facts in connection with Lake Kurun is that its waters are only
slightly brackish ; they are, moreover, quite drinkable, and
fresh-water fish from the Nile are found in them in abundance.
The cause of this is said to be clefts and fissures in the bottom
of the lake and the very considerable drainage which has gone
on. The streams of water which flow from these subterranean
passages travel towards the Marmarica coast between Alexandria
and Derma. There, “ owing to the tensile force inherent in
all water at a high temperature, they are discharged at great
depths below the level of the Mediterranean Sea.” The effect
of this constant drainage has been to lessen the quantity of
salt in the lake, and to lower the level of its waters. As
the Fayyum basin is closed in on all sides by bluffs and hills of
considerable height, had there been no subterranean drainage
the salt in the waters of Lake Kurun must have increased, but
the contrary is the fact, and the amount of salt in its waters
at the present time bears no adequate proportion to that which
the lowest estimate of experts entitles us to expect.* In
support of the explanation of the relatively slight brackishness
of the waters of Lake Kurun given above, Dr. Schweinfurth
and Sir W. Willcocks mention the case of Lake Tchad in
the Central Sudan as exhibiting an example of subterranean
drainage on a larger scale. The waters are perfectly sweet in
spite of the absence of any apparent outlet. This lake is
* It is calculated that 8*5 per cent, of salt, at least, has disappeared from
the Fayyum Lake. According to Mr. Beadnell {Topography and Geology
of the Fayum Province Cairo, 1905, p. 26), the Fayyum is a depression
,
which in Pliocene times was occupied by the sea, which then extended
for some distance up the Nile Valley. Later on, in Pleistocene times, when
the drainage of North-Eastern Africa flowed down the Nile Valley at a
considerably higher level than to-day, the Fayyum depression became a
lake communicating with the river. Later on, as the river eroded its bed,
the depression was probably cut off from the Valley, until in early historic
times the river bed had again risen sufficiently by deposition to render-
possible the diversion of part of its supply into the Fayyum. From that
time, by regulating the amount so diverted, it was possible to reclaim
gradually almost the whole of the floor of this low-lying area for cultivation.
Now all that remains of the former lake is an area of 233 square kilometres
of brackish water, which is being reduced yearly, as the water which
reaches it is less than that which is removed by evaporation. The mean
depth of the eastern portion is to-day 37 metres, while that of the
western portion is 5*5 metres, the maximum depth being 8 metres.
(Lyons, Physiography p. 300.) ,
46 THE LAKES IN THE DELTA.
drained by active infiltration towards the north-east in low

depressions, which are known as the Bahr Al-Ghazal.
In connection with Birket al-Kurun must be mentioned the
famous Natron Lakes, which lie in the Natron Valley, to
the north-west of Cairo. From these are obtained carbonate

of soda and muriate of soda, both of which salts have been
loosely classed as “ natron ; these Birak or “'Lakes” are six
;;
or eight in number, and the valley in which they are situated

is about 20 miles long, and varies in width from i^r to 5 miles.
Dr. Sickenberger observed in 1892 that all the springs which

gave birth to the “ Lakes were situated on the eastern side of
the valley, and this fact suggests that the “ Lakes ” are probably
due to direct infiltrations from the Nile.
Along the northern coast of the Delta,* close to the
Mediterranean Sea, are several large lagoons, of which the
most important are Lake Manzalah (area, 1,930 square kilos.),
Lake Burlus (area, 690 square kilos.), Lake Edkfii (area,
270 square kilos.), Lake Abukir, t and Lake Mareotis
(area, 290 square kilos.) ;
between these lakes and the sea are
innumerable sand-bars or dunes. It is estimated that the
amount of land flooded by these lakes was equal to about
380,000 acres. The Delta measures From Meks, west of
:
Alexandria, to the shore of Lake Manzalah, a little to the east

of Port Sa‘id, 250 kilometres (156 miles) ; from Cairo to the
lighthouse of Lake Burlus, 175 kilometres (no miles); and
its area is about 23,000 square kilometres. The Delta now
begins about 14 miles north of Cairo, at the Barrage, but in
ancient days the bifurcation of the Nile took place some ten
miles nearer Cairo. The alluvial sand and mud of the Delta
rest upon a thick deposit of yellow quartz sands, layers of
gravel and stiff clay, which was laid down when the sea
extended some distance up the Nile Valley, in the “Fault
Valley ” in which now lies the cultivated land of Egypt.
In ancient days it is said that the land now occupied
by the lakes mentioned above was divided into tracts of
land each containing about 50,000 acres, and that whole
districts were planted with vineyards, and that the region
*
is the name usually given to the triangular island which is
“Delta”
often formed by the mouths of large rivers, e.g ., the Indus and Nile,
because it resembles in shape the fouith letter of the Greek alphabet, A.
In the case of the Nile, the two sides are formed by the Rosetta and
Damietta arms and the base by the Mediterranean Sea.
t Lake Abukir has been almost entirely reclaimed.
;
THE LAKES IN THE DELTA. 47
supported a large population. The heaps of bricks and

pottery which are found round about in
all directions
suggest that this tradition rests on some good foundation,
although the visitor, when he looks on the scene of desolation
which the neighbourhood presents, will have some difficulty
in believing it. Irrigation engineers declare that the present
state of things is due chiefly to the fact that the system of
basin irrigation was abandoned by the Egyptians under the
rule of the Turks, who allowed 40 per cent, of the land of the
Delta to fall out of cultivation, and, what is worse, by keeping
the land out of cultivation for so many years, they have made it
so salted and barren that it is exceedingly difficult to reclaim it.
Besides this, moreover, an ancient tradition says that the level
of the land itself sank some 1,000 or 1,500 years ago, and that
in consequence the city of Tanis, and the whole region of the
“ Field of Zoan,” disappeared. Sir W. Willcocks has explained
the sinking of the land in the following manner :
—
“ The Nile,
like all deltaic rivers, deposits each flood its annual layer of fresh
soil. This deposit is greatest near its banks. The natural
consequence is, that the river advances into the sea in a series
of tongues corresponding to the different mouths of the river.
There is a limit to their length in the fact that, after a time,
during some year of high flood, the river breaches its banks,
and, finding a shorter course to the sea, tears open a new
channel, and silts up the old one. The flood-water of the
Nile, however, as it forces itself into the sea, meets the pre-
vailing north-west wind, which drives back the matters held
in suspension, and carrying on the sand, deposits it in long
bars, stretching from mouth to mouth on a regular curve.
r
fhese sand-bars are added to every year, and are considerably
higher than the land behind them.” The steep slopes of such
sand-bars towards the sea render them liable to slide, provided
the level of the sea falls, a thing which would happen during
a severe earthquake ; given some appreciable lowering of the
sea-level for a short interval of time, and the sliding of the
sand-bars towards the sea, the whole of the land for some
distance behind the sand-bars would be more or less swamped
and thrown out of cultivation ( Egyptian Irrigation second ,
edition, p. 241). Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes have

come into being through the construction of the Suez Canal
before 1865 they were mere swamps filled with reeds.
—
The Oases. In Ptolemaic times the Oases were said to
be seven by Egyptian geographers: — (i) The largest of all
48 LAND OF EGYPT— OASES.
is that which lies about 16 days’ journey to the west of Cairo,

and is commonly known by the names of “ Oasis of Jupiter
Ammon,” and “Oasis of Siwah ” (2) The Oasis of
;
Al = Khargah, which is best known as the Great Oasis, lies

at a distance of about four days’ journey from Esna (3) Beyond ;
AFKhargah, to the north, lies the Oasis of Dakhlah, which

some have thought to represent the Little Oasis (4) About ;
half-way between the Great Oasis and the Little Oasis is the
Oasis of Farafrah (5) To the north-east of Farafrah and
;
Dakhlah is the Oasis of Bahariyah, which has also been

identified with the Little Oasis of early writers ; (6) The district
which was called by the Egyptians Ut or Uahet, ue “ Oasis,” .,
has not yet been satisfactorily identified (7) The region called
;
Sekhet>hemam, i.e., Salt Field, is no doubt some portion of

the Wadi Natrun, or Natron Valley. At the present time the
Oases in the Western Desert which belong to Egypt are five in
number, viz., Siwah, Bahariyah, Dakhlah, Khargah, and
Farafrah. Of the history of the Oases in early dynastic times
nothing is known, but they were probably raided by the tribes
who lived between them and the Nile and even by the Egyptians
themselves. Usertsen I., the founder of the Xllth dynasty,
appears to have been the first king of Egypt who attempted to
make the inhabitants of the Oases subject to him. * Usertsen I. 5
found, as later kings did also, that it was useless to attempt to

conquer the Sudan without first reducing the inhabitants of the
Oases to submission. As long as the Oases were in the hands
of people who were not subject to Egypt, the tribes of the
Western Sudan could retreat northwards by the roads run-
ning through the Oases, and find an asylum in the deserts of
Northern Africa, until the Egyptian troops were withdrawn
to Egypt. They appear to have been brought finally under
the rule of Egypt about 1550 b.c., and. there is reason to
believe that they formed the Islands of the Blest in the
popular mythology of a later period. Further details con-
cerning the Oases will be found on pp. 511-539.
J
* See the Stela of Aquaa ^ „
in the Berlin Museum, dated
(j
in the 34th year of Usertsen I.

49
CHAPTER III.
The Land of Egypt. — Natural History.
Trees, Plants, Animals, etc. — The different kinds of trees

known to the ancient Egyptians were comparatively few in
number. The principal were the sunt i.e., the acacia, of
,
which two or three species were known ; two or three species of

tamarisks, the mulberry, the carob, and “ Christ’s thorn
tree.” I n pre-dynastic times the country must have been covered
in many places with low trees and masses of marshy undergrowth,
which formed cover for the wild animals that lived near the
Nile. Wood has always been scarce in Egypt, and we know
that as early as 3500 b.c. expeditions were sent into the Sudan
for the purpose of obtaining it ;
and it is on record that when,
about 1100 b.c., the priests of Amen-Ra at Thebes wished to
provide a new barge for the god to occupy during the water
processions, they were obliged to despatch an official to Berftt
in order to buy cedar-wood suitable for the purpose direct from
the merchants. In the neighbourhood of Cairo long avenues
of lebbek trees have been planted during the last 30 or
40 years, and these have not only improved the landscape, but
afford very grateful shade to those who travel along the roads
by the sides of which they grow. The road to the Pyramids
illustrates the importance of the lebbek tree for the comfort of
the traveller. The vine has always flourished in Egypt, and in
ancient days large quantities of wine were made ; the grapes
ripen in July. Among the commonest fruits may be mentioned
oranges, lemons, pomegranates, figs, grapes, apricots,
peaches, melons, mulberries, and bananas, and in recent
years successful attempts have been made to grow the straw**
berry, etc., in districts where water is plentiful, and the cost
of distributing it over the gardens not prohibitive. The date
palm is found everywhere, and its fruit is naturally one of the
commonest articles of food. It has always been cultivated in
Egypt, and the pruning and fertilization of the tree have
always, at least in times of peace, been attended to with the
greatest care. The blossoms appear in March and April, and
the fruit is ripe at the end of August or early in September.
Some 70 species are said to exist by expert merchants, and in
D
—
50 EGYPT : ITS TREES, SEASONS AND CROPS.
many villages possible to find 20 or 30 sorts of date in the

it is
market. Very few kinds can be eaten fresh with impunity,

and the fruit does not usually attain its full flavour until it has
hung on the tree for several days, or, if gathered, has been
allowed to lie on mats in the sun. Among the species grown
in Nubia and the Eastern Sudan the ibrimi and the sultarii are
most prized, but owing to the neglect of the palm trees caused
by the Dervish rebellion, it must be some years before the
Sudan date harvests are as good and plentiful as they were
before the advent of the Mahdi. The Dum palm flourishes
in Upper Egypt and all along the Nile towards the south its ;
large, dark-brown nuts contain a soft, sweet substance which is

pleasant to the taste. In a country where wood is scarce the
trunks of the date palm and the dum palm are very valuable,
and the purposes for which the fibre, leaves, etc., are used are
manifold. Sir W. Willcocks estimated in 1899 that there were
about 5, 200, coo date trees in Upper Egypt, the value of their
fruit being ^1,040,000, and that the value of the fruit of the
2,200,000 trees in Lower Egypt was ^440,000 i.e the date .,
harvest of Egypt was worth nearly one and a half million

pounds sterling. In 1907 the number of tax-bearing date
palms was 5,966,010.
The ancient Egyptians divided the year into three seasons,
which they called Akhet, Pert, and Shemut, and these con-
tained the months of August-November, December-March,
and April-July respectively. For all practical purposes the
summer may be said to last from April ist to August 1st, and
the winter from December ist to April ist; the period from
August ist to December ist may be called the flood season,
and is distinguished by the Nile inundation. The ancient and
modern inhabitants of the country agree in considering that a
season is the length of time which elapses from the sowing of
the seed to the end of the harvest, i.e., four months. The
principal crops are wheat, barley, dhurra, or maize of various
sugar,
kinds, peas, beans, lentils, lubiya clover, lucerne, rice,
,
and cotton. In Upper Egypt the sowing of wheat, beans,

clover, and barley begins early in October, and ends on
November 30th ; the barley and bean harvests begin about
March 10th, and the wheat harvest a month later. The
sowing of sugar cane begins at the end of February, and
ends about April 5th; the harvest begins on December 15th,
nnd ends March 15th. In 1908-9 some 359,000 tons of cane
were produced, as compared with 253,000 in 1907-8; the
SUGAR, COTTON, MAIZE AND RICE. 51
amount in 1910-11 was 515,000 tons. In 1909 the

number of feddans under sugar cultivation was not less than
50,000. The yield of sugar in the same year was 38,000 tons.
A ton of sugar canes yields about 2 cwt. of sugar.
The sowing of wheat begins on August 5th, and ends on
October 15th. In Lower Egypt the sowing of wheat, beans,
and barley begins on October 25th, and the harvest lasts from
April 15th to the end of May ; this, of course, refers to winter
crops. The sowing of cotton begins on February 20th, and
ends on April 5th, and the harvest extends from August 20th
to November 10th. In recent years the areas of land under
cotton cultivation have steadily increased, but in some years
the total of the crop has diminished.
Cotton Area Crop in
in Feddans. Kantars.
1895-6 997,735 ... 5', 526, 1 28
1896-7 ... 1,050,749 ••• 5,879,479

1897-8 ... 1,128,153 ... 6,543,628
1898-9 ... I,I2I,26l ••• 5,589,314
1899-00 ••• i
53 3°5
)
i j
... 6,510,050
1900-1 ... 1,230,320 ... 5,427,338
1901-2 ... 1,249,884 ... 6,371,643
1902-3 ... 1,275,680 ... 5,838,090
1903 4 ... 1,332,510 ... 6,508,947
1904-5 ... 1,436,708 6,551,878
1905-6 ... 1,566,601 ... 5,989,883
1906-7 1,506,290 ••• 6,949,383
1907-8 ... 1,603,224 ... 7,234,069
1908-9 ... 1,530,000 ... 5,000,000
1910-11 ... 7,500,000
It is also stated on undoubted authority that the quality of the
cotton tends to deteriorate (Cromer, Egypt No. 1 (1906), p. 24).
,
The values of the cotton and cotton seed exported in 1910 were
Ê. 24, 242,000 and Ê. 2, 160,000 respectively. The sowing
of d hurra (maize) begins on July 5th, and the harvest on
October 15th. Sultanl rice is sown from May 5th to June 5th,
and Sabaini rice from August 5th to September 5th both ;
kinds of rice are reaped in November. The value of the

rice exported in 1910 was Ê. 288,000.
The different sorts of vegetables grown in Egypt are
numerous, especially in the Delta, where, under the modern
system of irrigation, vegetable growing is very profitable. The
commonest vegetable is the onion, and next come cucumbers
of various kinds, pumpkins, melons of various kinds, gourds,
leeks, garlic, radishes, bamia badingan (the egg plant),
y
D 2
e :
52 PAPYRUS, THE PLOUGH, SOWING OF CROPS, ETC.
vielukhiyeh or spinach, lettuces, cabbages, beetroot, turnips,

carrots, etc. The
value of the onions exported in 1909 was
Ê. 260,000. That Egypt was famous as the home of fresh
vegetables in very early times is proved by Numbers xi, 4, 5,
where we read “ And the children of Israel also wept again,
:
and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat ? We remember

the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers
and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlick.” In dynastic times flax was cultivated with great dili-
gence, and the weavers of linen must have formed a considerable
and wealthy section of the community. The importance of the
flax crop was great, and it may be noted that it is coupled with
barley in the Bible narrative (Exodus ix, 31), where it is said
“And the flax and the barley were smitten for the barley was
:
in the ear, and the flax was boiled ” (i.e., podded for seed). The
cultivation of flax has decreased as that of cotton has increased.
The town most famous for its linen stuffs was Panopolis, the
modern Akhmim, the people of which are still great weavers of
linen. The canals, pools, and marshes, which were fed from the
Nile, were ornamented in ancient days with lofty, waving
reeds, or “ bulrushes,” the papyrus,* and the white and blue
lotus lily. The papyrus grew to a height of from 12 to
15 feet, and the largest diameter of its triangular stalk was
from 4 to 6 inches. The roots were used for firewood, parts
of the plant were eaten, and the other and coarser parts were
made into paper, boats, ropes, mats. etc. Papyrus, the material
so extensively used for writing upon, was made from layers
which were separated from the stalk of the plant with a flat
needle, and then gummed together. Neither the papyrus nor
lotus plant is found in Egypt at the present day.
The plough used by the natives is very similar in shape to

that used by the ancient Egyptians, and would in no other
country be regarded as an effective implement it has com- ;
paratively little weight, and that portion of it which makes the

furrow does not penetrate far into the ground. Its use is
dispensed with as far as possible, and the seed which is
scattered over the ground immediately the waters have
receded is on large farms rolled in and on small ones beaten
or trodden in. The fields are watered either by allowing the
water to flow from a basin or reservoir into the rectangular
patches into which they are divided, so many at a time, or by
* The word “ papyrus,” according to Bondi, is derived from the
Egyptian Pa-p-iur i. ,
“ that which belongs to the
. ,
river.”
THE SHADUF AND WATER-WHEEL, 53
machines, more or less complex, which lift the water from the
Nile or from the large canals which flow out of it. The
commonest water-raising machine is the Shaduf, which is
usually worked by one man, who raises the water in a skin
bucket to the end of the channel which leads into the field or
garden to be watered, and tilts it into it. Where the “lift”
is high, and the leverage great, the Shaduf is often worked by
two men. This machine is simple and inexpensive to make,

and economical to work, and, in one form or another, repre-
sents probably the oldest water-raising machine in the country.
A more complex machine is the Sakiyah, or water-wheel,
Picture of an Ancient Egyptian Shaduf being worked by a Fellah.

(From a Tomb at Thebes.)
which is usually worked by oxen. An endless rope passes

over the wheel, and to this are attached a series of earthenware
pots, arranged at regular intervals, which, as the wheel revolves,
dip into a pool at the bottom of the cutting in the river bank
or well, and so fill themselves, and in due course empty
themselves into a trough on the top of the bank. The wheel
is made to turn by means of a sort of cog-wheel arrangement,
which is set in motion by an ox, or ass, or even a camel. A

small boy usually sits on the large horizontal wheel and urges
the animal on his course with blows from a whip or stick,
accompanied by vigorous language. Owing to friction, and
leakage, and imperfect construction the loss of power in
WATER-WHEEL.
such machines is very considerable, but in spite of this

serious defect the Sakiyah forms an economical means of
raising water. In many parts of Egypt and the Sudan iron
water-wheels have been erected, but in some places the
natives do not view them with a favourable eye. In recent
years steam pumps have been largely used for irrigation
purposes, and Sir W. Willcocks mentions 74 stationary
engines with a joint horse-power of 3,500, and 81 portable
engines with a joint horse-power of 890 ; large steam pumps
Modern Shadufs.
are also used on the estates of the Administration of Crown

Lands, and the Societe Generale des Sucreries de la Haute
at Nag Hamadi a pumping engine of 500 horse-
4
Egypte* has
power. In 1906 there were said to be about 100,000 water-
wheels and 5,000 steam pumps at work in Egypt.
The manure used throughout Lower Egypt “ is the urine
of farm cattle, with the ammonia fixed by dry earth, which is
spread under the cattle and removed daily, and collected in
* This Company was engulfed in the failure of MM. Henry Say ct Cie
in 1905.
MANURE. 55
heaps outside the farms. The dry atmosphere and the dry
earth of Egypt combine to fix all the valuable ingredients in
the urine. Before the flood the manure is carried to the
fields which are going to be planted with Indian corn, and in
this way every field receives manure once every two years.
For special crops, as melons, gardens, etc., pigeon guano is
used ” (Willcocks’ Egyptiaii Irrigation p. 384). ,
The greater
part of the manure produced by cattle is burnt by the natives
for fuel. Mr. Fuller, C.I.E., .the eminent authority on manures,
A modern water-wheel worked by oxen.
states that Nile water, though exceedingly rich in potash,

which constitutes the principal food of leguminous plants, is
singularly poor in nitrogen, on which cereals depend. In
Upper Egypt the manure consists of the nitrates which are
found in the deserts between Wadi Halfahand Kena, and also
of the accumulated rubbish of 20 or 25 centuries, which has
been heaped up in the ruins on the sites of such ancient cities
as Abydos and Eshmfinen. The rubbish is called by the
natives Sebbdkh and the removal of it from old, ruined cities
,
has, incidentally, resulted in the discovery of many priceless

;
56 TOBACCO, LAND VALUE.
antiquities. South of Kena the supply from the deserts is

inexhaustible, but to the north of Kena the ancient ruins are
being gradually exhausted, and, moreover, supply but a fraction
of the area requiring manure. The proximity of manures in
the deserts or in ancient ruins has been found by Sir W.
Willcocks to exert a strong influence on rents, and he thinks
that the manure question must always be inferior only to that
of irrigation.
It is in some quarters still a popular belief that large
quantities of tobacco are grown in Egypt, but as a matter of
fact none is grown for trade purposes. The first attempt to
discourage the growth of the tobacco plant in Egypt was made
in 1887, when a light tax per acre was put upon native-grown
tobacco ; this tax was raised to ^50 per acre in 1889, and to
£ 100 per acre in 1890, but notwithstanding this a considerable
area was put under tobacco. In 1891 tobacco growing was
absolutely prohibited, and people planted onions on the rich
lands whereon they had previously grown tobacco. The
tobaccos most commonly smoked by the natives are Turkish
and Syrian of the former there are two kinds, the “ hot ” and
;
the “mild,” and of the latter light brown and dark brown.
The dark brown Syrian tobacco is commonly known as
“Latakia,” because it comes from Ladikiyyah, a town in Syria.
Other kinds are tutun and tambak the latter is usually smoked
in water pipes. Sir Eldon Gorst calls attention to the great
development in the imports of leaf-tobacco from Russia, as a
consequence of the effect of the recent Commercial Conven-
tion between Russia and Egypt. During the first twelve
months since the signing of the Russian Convention 323,350
kilog. have been imported as compared with 68,150 kilog.
imported in the previous twelve months. The total quantity
of Egyptian cigarettes exported continues to show a steady
expansion, notwithstanding the equally steady reduction in
the exports to Germany and Great Britain.
The Customs receipts from tobacco amounted to
Ê.1,688,321 in 1908, Ê.1,656,000 in 1909, and
;£E. 1,591,347 in 1910.
The value of the gross yield of the land was in 1899
^39,000,000 on 5,750,000 acres, or about ^7 per acre.
Upper Egypt with 2,320,000 acres gives ;£i 5,585,000, and
Lower Egypt with 3,430,000 acres gives ^23,475,000. The
renting value of Upper Egypt is ^8,300,000, and of Lower
Egypt ^13,700,000 thus for the whole of Egypt the renting
;
TAXES, DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 57
value was in 1899 ^22,000,000, or 57 per cent, of the gross

yields. Lands in Egypt are classed either as Kharagi or
Ushuri the former including all the lands which appeared in
,
the Cadastral survey made for Muhammad ‘All in 1813, and

the latter the estates which were given by him and his sue-
cessors to their friends and their favourites ; ushuri lands were
at that time exempt from taxation. The maximum tax in
1813 on Kharagi lands was 50 piastres (about 1 os. 3^.) per
acre in Upper Egypt, and 45 piastres in Lower Egypt ; in 1864
this tax had risen to 115 piastres per acre in Lower Egypt, and
no piastres per acre in Upper Egypt. In 1880 the ushuri
taxes were 112 piastres per acre in Lower Egypt, and 102
piastres per acre in Upper Egypt. The taxation per head of
population amounted in 1882 to jfi is. i\d ., and in 1902 it
was i6l 2 d.
In 1909 the receipts from Direct Taxation were
Ê.5,287,562. This sum was made up as follows —Land :
Tax, Ê.4,936,431 ;
Date-palm Tax, Ê.139,852 ;
House Tax, j£E. 2 11,2 7 9. The area subject to taxation

was 5,610,330 feddans, i.e ., 3,391,090 feddans in Lower
Egypt, and 2,218,260 feddans in Upper Egypt. The average
tax per feddan was 88 piastres, or about 18 shillings.
The principal domestic animals are the ass, camel,
horse, mule, buffalo, ox, pig, sheep, and goat. The ass
is indigenous. The camel was known in Egypt so far back as
4000 b.c., for earthenware models of the animal have been found
in graves of this period. Representations of the camel are not
found on the monuments, and he plays no part in ancient
Egyptian mythology ; he is mentioned in the Travels of an
Egyptian, but the writer only saw the camel in Palestine, and
it seems that we must conclude that the Egyptians, during the
greater part of the dynastic period, had no use for the animal.
The introduction of the camel into Egypt in modern times
probably dates from the Roman period. The horse appears
to have been unknown in Egypt until the beginning of the
XVIIIth dynasty, about 1700 b.c., when the Egyptians began
to employ the animal in their Asiatic wars. The sheep was
known at an early period, but it does not appear to have been
indigenous ; a species of ram with flat, projecting horns existed
under the early dynasties, but it appears to have become extinct
before the Xllth dynasty. The pig was kept in certain districts,
and the animal appears as a creature of evil in ancient Egyptian
mythology ; it was a black pig (which was a personification of Set,
liXiYPTtAN ANIMALS AND BIRDS.
the god of evil) that inflicted an injury on the eye of Horus, the.
Sun-god, and so produced an eclipse. Several species of the dog
were known, and some of the kinds used in hunting have been
satisfactorily identified by recent investigators of the subject,
especially in the case of greyhounds and the more heavily
built dogs which were used for pulling down big game. The
cat has flourished in Egypt in all periods, and the position
which it occupies in the ancient mythology proves that it must
have been well known in Egypt at a very early period. One
species appears to have been used in hunting.
Among wild animals may be mentioned the wolf, fox,
jackal, hyena, hare, ichneumon, gazelle, oryx, and ibex.
The hippopotamus in early times was found in the Nile and
its marshes far to the north in Egypt, and hunting it was con-
sidered worthy sport for an Egyptian gentleman. At what

period the hippopotamus became extinct in Egypt is unknown,
but we may note that Saint Jerome, in his life of Abba Benus
the monk, mentions that a hippopotamus used to come up
from the river by night and devour the crops and lay waste
the fields, and that the holy man succeeded in driving away
the animal by adjuring it to depart in the name of Jesus Christ.
This statement suggests that a hippopotamus was to be seen
in Upper Egypt in the fifth century after Christ. The
elephant disappeared from Egypt at a very early period, and
probably also the rhinoceros. The lion was common, and
the religious texts mention an animal which is probably to be
identified with the lynx. Paintings on early tombs prove
that the chief priests wore a leopard skin as a portion of their
ceremonial attire, but it is uncertain at present whether the
leopard was a native of the country or not.
Many species of birds existed, and
still exist, in Egypt,
and found good cover in the marshes and in the low-lying

lands near the canals. The commonest bird of prey was the
vulture, of which three kinds have been identified. Eagles,
falcons, hawks, buzzards, kites, crows, larks, linnets,
sparrows, quail, the pelican, the bat, etc., are all found in
Egypt. The hawk, ibis, swallow, and heron appear in the
ancient mythology, and many of the legends about them
from ancient sources appear in the writings of the Copts
and Arabs. In many districts geese of different kinds have
always abounded, and at Chenoboskion, in Upper Egypt, they
were fattened systematically ; near the village of Giza, at the
present day, may be seen large numbers of geese which are
!
FISH AND REPTILES. §9
identical in shape and colour with those which the ancient

Egyptians depicted so successfully on their monuments nearly
6,000 years ago. Pigeons and chickens flourish in Egypt, but
it is thought that the latter were imported subsequent to the
XXVIth dynasty.
Fish have always been abundant in the Nile, and in many
districts form an important article of food* The commonest
were the oxyrhynchus, i>e ., the sharp-snouted, the latus, the
silurus, the phagrus, chromis nilotica, etc. The reservoirs,
or irrigation basins, become filled with very small fish which are
much prized by the natives, who catch them and pack them
between layers of salt in large earthenware jars and keep them
for months. Before the advent of steamers and railways the
Egyptians, when travelling from Upper Egypt to Cairo, or
from Cairo to Khartfim, took such jars of salted fish with them
on their long journeys, and practically lived on fish and hard,
dry bread-cakes. In 1899 a survey of the fishes of the Nile
was undertaken by the Egyptian Government with the co-opera-
tion of the Trustees of the British Museum, and Mr. W. S. Loat
was entrusted with the work. Mr. Loat fished the Nile from the
Delta to Gondokoro, i.e., for a distance of about 2,800 miles,
and he collected 9,500 specimens, representing over 100 spec’es
of fishes, 14 of which are new to science.
In 1902 Lord Cromer inaugurated a series of reforms in
connection with the Fishing Industry on the salt-water lakes
adjoining the sea. The fisheries were farmed by the
Government, and the fishermen were little better than slaves
in the hands of the tax-farmers, the average yearly income of
a whole family being from ^3 to ^4. At the present time
the fishermen on Lake Bfirlfis (Borollus) are making from
jQ 2 15^. to ^3 5^. per month and the licence system is
working admirably. The men and women of the Lakes
population are better fed and better dressed, and each year
the number of those who make the pilgrimage to Mecca is
increasing. Mortar is now used in building the walls of their
houses instead of mud, and the roofs are made of planks of
wood instead of palm trunks.
Among reptiles the crocodile is the most famous. Until
a comparatively late period this creature frequented the Nile
so far north as the Delta, but steamers and sportsmen have,
little by little, driven it southwards, and now
the crocodile is
rarely seen to the north of Wadi Lizards are still fairly
Halfah.
common, but turtles and tortoises are rare, except in the upper
)
6o REPTILES AND INSECTS.
reaches of the Nile. In pre-dynastic times snakes must have

existed in large numbers, and at a much later period they were
a terror to the Egyptian ;
in modern times some 20 species
have been identified, and of these several are venomous.
Snakes play a prominent part in ancient Egyptian mythology,
some appearing as friends of man and others as foes. Certain
species attained a very large size, for Dr. Andrews found
in the Fayyum vertebrae a fossil serpent, and it is
of
calculated that when living must have been between 40 and
it
50 feet long. The uraeus belonged to the venomous group,

and appears to have been worshipped ; it was regarded as the
guardian of the king, and is described as possessing the faculty
of belching flames and fire when moved to wrath. Frogs and
toads have always abounded in Egypt, and scorpions still exist
in considerable numbers. The small, black variety is able to
kill small animals, and its sting can cause a full-grown man
much suffering. Among insects of various kinds, lice,
flies
and similar creatures increase with such extraordinary rapidity
in certain circumstances that they become veritable plagues.
The locusts still appear from time to time, and in large
numbers, but, thanks to the methods now adopted for their
destruction, their ravages are neither so severe nor so wide-
spread as formerly. The beetle ( scaraboeus sacer is common
in Egypt and the Sfidan, and is an interesting creature. From
pre-dynastic times to the end of the Pharaonic period it occupied
a prominent position in the mythology and religion of the
country, and even at the present day in the Sfidan it is supposed
to possess magical powers. It was held to be the symbol of
the self-created god Khepera, and in the minds of the Egyptians
it was associated with beliefs in regeneration, resurrection, and
immortality.
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to state that there still exist
in the Sildan several species of animals which were common
enough in Egypt at one time, and that until quite recently
there existed the probability that they would become as extinct
in the Sfidan as they are in Egypt, unless steps were taken
quickly to prevent the unnecessary destruction of animal life
which was being carried on by the natives, whose object was to
procure hides for sale in the market, and by “ sportsmen,” who
were bent on piling up records of big game shot. The situation
was quickly grasped by the Sudan Government, who promptly
took steps to draw up the “Soudan Game Ordinance,”
which was issued in 1901. The regulations embodied in this
BIG GAME IN THE SUDAN, 61
document were necessarily of a tentative character, and many

of them were subsequently modified. The immediate result
was, however, very good. A “ sanctuary ” for Central African
animals was formed, where no one is allowed to shoot. This
sanctuary was kept practically inviolate during 1905, only two
tiang, two white-eared cob, and three or four oribi being shot.
A second and less absolute sanctuary has also been formed, in
which only Sudan officials in general will be allowed to shoot.
It is in contemplation to place a limit of time to the period
that shooting parties may pass in the reserved district ; but at
present the quantity of game killed yearly by shooting is not
large enough to make much difference to the general stock of
game in the country. Outside these two reserves all sportsmen
will be allowed to shoot, save where restrictions are imposed for
reasons other than those based on the desirability of preserving
game. In 1901, up to October 31st, about 842 animals were
killed by holders of licences, and in 1902 the number amounted
to 1,340;* the number up to September 30th, 1903, was 1,072,
and of these 175 animals were shot by visitors, and the remainder
by Sudan officials. In 1905 about 2,101 head of game were
killed in the Slid an. Of these 1,847 were killed by residents,
officers,and officials, and 268 by visitors. In 1910 some
2,300 head of game were shot by 141 licence-holders revenue, ;
Ê.3,500. Among the animals killed were —

Addra and other
:
gazelles, the ariel,bashbuck, buffalo, cheetah, digdig, dinker,

eland, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, ibex, Jackson’s harte-
beest, klingspringer, kudu, leopard, lion, oryx Jeucoryx, oribi,
Mrs. Gray’s waterbuck, rhinoceros, reedbuck, roan antelope,
tiang, Torn hartebeest, Uganda cob, Wart hog, white-eared
cob, waterbuck, wild ass, wild boar, wild dog. Some ostriches
also were killed. According to the official report, one of the
principal causes of the abundance of African game in the
past has been the existence of powerful warrior tribes, which
laid waste great tracts of surrounding country for decades
together. In these devastated areas the game increased
until its numbers were as great as the soil could support.
The barbaric power that makes a solitude and calls it peace
is the best game preserver. Legislation can protect game
from the rifle, but it is powerless to save it from giving
way to civilization. The Pax Britannica can never do for
African game in the future what the Zulu Impis, the Masai
Moran, the slave-raiders, and the Dervishes have done in the
* Officers killed and
953 animals, visitors 387.
— —
62 BIG GAME IN THE SUDAN-— MINERALS.
past. The present condition and the outlook for the near future
of the game appear to be very satisfactory. There are large
areas in the Shdan which are not likely ever to be populated,
and where the continued existence of game in abundance can
be secured by adequate protection. In such districts there is
no reason why large game should not continue to exist for
centuries ; but from others, as the country becomes repopulated,
and chains of prosperous villages spread along the river banks
the favourite haunts of the game —
it is bound in time to dis-
appear. At many places on the White Nile hippopotami do a

great deal of harm. “ In the narrow rivers of the Bahr al-
“ Ghazal they swarm and are a positive pest, damaging the
“ crops near rivers, and constantly making unprovoked attacks
“ on small boats, dugouts, etc. Quite recently a Berthon boat,
“ carrying the mail for the north, was attacked and sunk, the
“ mail and two rifles lost, and two men in the boat narrowly
“ escaping.” Colonel Sparkes goes so far as to suggest that
hippopotami be treated as vermin and shot on sight. On the
other hand, the news that provision is made for patrols, each
containing six men, to prevent the slaughter of animals by
poachers on the Rahad and Dinder Rivers, will be welcomed
by many.
Minerals and Mineral Products. Gold is found in many
places in the Eastern Desert, and there are abundant proofs
that the ancient Egyptians had many gold mines there, which
they worked at a great profit. At the present time a number
of sites are being worked by companies, and, according to
Mr. J. Wells, the total returns of gold from two of them, i.e.,
the Nile Valley and the Umm Rhs, have amounted to
Ê. 40,000. Gold to the value of about ^30,000 has also
been extracted by the Nile Valley Company from the Umm
Garaiart mine. In the Western Desert, in the Oases of
Khargah and Dakhlah, a deposit of gold has been found in a
lower bed of phosphate rock which contains gold worth from a
few pence to as high as 7 s. 6d. to 8s. per ton. Copper is found
in the Peninsula of Sinai, and we know that the famous copper
mines of Wadi Magharah and Sarabit al-Khadim were worked
under the early dynasties of Egyptian kings. Coal has been
found in small seams, but until further investigations have
been made it is impossible to say if they are worth working.
Lead is found in the Eastern Desert, and the mines were
worked by the Romans. Iron is found in many places, but
without a cheap supply of fuel is not worth working. A few
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM — SALT MONOPOLY. 63
sulphur mines are known in the Eastern Desert. The

famous emerald mines of Gebel Zabaiah were worked by the
Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, and Mr. E. W. Streeter has
obtained a concession to work them for thirty years. Exten-
sive deposits of nitrates, phosphates, and alum have been
found in the Western Desert. Egypt has in all ages been
famed for the variety and beauty of its granite, basalt,
sandstone, limestone, alabaster, marble, diorite,
quartzite, porphyry, breccia, and veined and variegated
stones of many kinds. Petroleum undoubtedly exists in
the neighbourhood of Gebel Zet (Oil Mountain), near the Red
Sea, but the extent of the supply has not yet been thoroughly
investigated. Salt is common in Egypt ; it is obtained chiefly
from the lakes on the sea-coast, but many natives take their
supply from the salt-springs and layers of rock-salt which are
found at several places in the Western Desert. The greater
part of the salt used in Lower Egypt comes from Lake
Mareotis, near Alexandria. Up to 1892 all salt was sold
direct by the Government at the price of 800 piastres a ton,
but in that year a company was formed which bought the salt
monopoly from the Government. This company sold salt to
|
the people for 500 piastres a ton, and on every ton sold the
Government received a royalty of 340 piastres. In 1904
about 60,000 tons of salt were consumed, and the revenue
derived from the monopoly was Ê. 182,000. The monopoly
pressed very heavily on the poor, and it gave rise to smuggling
on a large scale, some 1,223 persons being fined or imprisoned
for this offence in 1904,* and the number of animals confis-
cated was 489. Lord Cromer regarded the monopoly as a
blot on the fiscal system of Egypt, and it was therefore
abolished from January 1st, 1906. The estimated loss to the
revenue is Ê. 17 5,000. Soda or natron, which was so
largely used in the processes of mummification, is obtained
from Wadi Natrun. The mining industries of Egypt are at
present only in their infancy, but it is clear that when the
country has been carefully surveyed, large deposits of valuable
earths, etc., will be found at many places. The policy of the
Government is not to hurry the exploitation of the country,
but to have the mines worked in its true interests.
* In 1905 about 1,572 persons were arrested
; 35 tons of smuggled salt
were seized; 164 donkeys, 10 camels and 2 boats were confiscated and
sold ; ZE. 1,100 were paid in fines
;
and an aggregate of 13,000 days was
spent .in prison by the smugglers.
—
64
CHAPTER IV.
The Trade of Egypt.

The foreign trade of Egypt was in 1910 worth about
Ê. 52, 497,000. The imports in 1910 (excluding specie)
were in value Ê. 2 3, 5 5 3,000, and the exports (excluding
specie) Ê.28,944,000, as against Ê. 26, 076, 000 in 1909, an
increase of Ê. 2, 868,000, or n per cent. The Customs
receipts amounted to Ê. 3, 455, 000. The growth of the
foreign trade of Egypt is illustrated by the following figures :
—
Imports. Exports. Total.
Year. £E .
£E .
£E .
1885 ... 8,715,236 11,424,970 20,140,206

1889 ... 6,748,919 11,953,196 18,702,115
1890 ... . 7,605,823 1 1,876,087 19,481,910
1892 ... 8,741,990 13,341,318 22,083,308
1894 ... •
8,767,233 11,892,875 20,660,108
1896 ... 9,317,096 13,232,108 22,549,204
1899 ... ... 10,908,816 15,359,908 26,268,724
1900 •• 13.535.167 16,766,610 30,301,777
1902 ... 14,211,150 17,617,003 31,828,153
1904 ... ... 19,888,825 20,316,076 40,204,901
1905 ... ... 20,876,689 19,805,913 40,682,602
1906 •• 23,315,343 24,411,417 47,726,760
1907 ... ••• 25,404,576 27,619,676 53,024,252
1908 ••• 24,237,855 20,950,696 45,188,551
1909 ... ... 22,230,000 26,076,000 48,306,000
1910 • 23,553,000 28,944,000 52,497,000
In the years 1909 and 1910 the trade of Egypt was divided
among the great countries of Europe thus :
Imports. 1909. 1910.

£E. Per cent. £E . Percent,
United Kingdom... 6,744,000 3°*3 7,311,000 31-3
British possessions in the
Mediterranean 174,000 o-8 169,000 o*6
Far East 975,000 4*4 967,000 4*o
France 2,899,000 13-0 2,652,000 11 *3
Turkey 2,642,000 11 *8 2,905,000 12*3

Austria-Hungary 1,433,000 6*4 1,646,000 7-0
Germany ... 1,129,000 57 1,263,000 5*4
Italy 997,000 4 '4 1,169,000 5*o
Belgium 678,000 3*Q «... ...
.. — 8
EXPORTS. 65
Exports.
1909. 1910.
£E . Per cent. £E . Ter cent.
U ni ted Kingdom . . I 3,°99,9 10 50*2 14,343.381 49*9
Mediterranean ... 11,670 bO r4M
10,702 o-ol
Far East 110,175 o*4 82,222 0 ’3
Germany ... 2,481,826 9’5 3,088,632 107
France 2,298,541 8-8 2,474,026 8-5
America ... 1,902,498 7 '3 1,892,025 6’6
Russia 1,515,614 5*8 1,659,641 57
Austria-Hungary .. 1,291,848 5*0 1,434,821 5*0
Cotton Exported.
To Great Britain.
Kantars. Value E £ . Kantars. Value £E .
1910 ... 6,009,406 24,241,712 3,034,126 12,065,757

1909 ... 6,952,480 21,477,745 3,407,445 10,524,015
1908 ... 6,348,489 17,091,603 3,124,119 8,428,847
Cotton Seed Exported.
Ardebs. Ardebs.
1910 ... 2,673,816 2,159,993 1,765,746 1,417,746
1909 .
... 3,308,118 2,432,939 2,544,919 1,868,550
1908 ... 3,741,654 2,470,996 3,154,558 2,086,643
The values of the principal groups of articles imported in
1909 and 1910 are as follows :
From U.K. and

British possessions.
1909. 1910. 1909. 1910.
Amimalsand foodstuffs...
£E .
£E .
£E .
944,243 1,123,205 158,103 163,035

Tides and leather 361,480 393,555 149,322 164,368
\nimal products 75,000 .68,946 18,265 18,914
Cereals, vegetables, fari-
naceous foods... 3,688,874 2,739,956 76 i, 39‘ 568,175
Colonial wares and drugs 1,131,304 945,399 168,987 189,592
Spirituous liquors and oils 1,209,244 1,161,199 196,567 208,541
°apers, books, and
printed matter 355,183 389,656 72,862 74,146
Toal and wood 2,698,092 2,834,251 1,177,594 1,233,472
itone, earth, glass, etc. 535,026 617,588 90,549 138,360
Dyeing materials and
colours 240,231 256,024 63,380 68,8lO
Chemicals, medicines,
perfumery 728,033 976,115 142,854 185,297
Textiles... 5,864,943 6,625,954 3,751,733 4,068,115
Metals and metalwork ... 1,966,329 1,137,035 936,393 1,138,709
Miscellaneous ... 1,602,333 212,679 192,827 216,864
Tobacco and cigars 6,057 5,947 n,434 u,259
£E . 22, 230,499/E. 23, 552,826 £E 6, 743 ,678 £ E 7,3

. . 1 1 , 21
K
;:
66
CHAPTER V.
The Land of Egypt. — Ancient and Modern Divisions,

Population, etc.
The name by which the Delta, and probably also the
cultivated land on both sides of the Nile as far south as
Aswan, are designated in the Bible is Mizraim (Genesis x, 6)
the termination of this word aim has been generally supposed
to refer to the two great divisions of Egypt, Lower and
Upper. The Greeks called the whole country ’'AirYIITOS, a
name which is in reality derived from an ancient native name
of Memphis, viz., Het=ka=Ptah.* Homer, who seems to be
v
the first to use the name Ai^v 7tto 9 makes the masculine form ,
apply to the River Nile ( Odys iv, 477), and the feminine to
.
the country itself (Odys. xvii, 448). From the Greek form
of a name of Memphis came the Latin “Aegyptus,” and,
later, our “Egypt.” A
very old Egyptian name for the
country is Kamt ,
1
^ i.e., the “ black land,” the allusion,
of course, being to the colour of the soil ; from this name

is derived the Coptic Kerne or Kemi or Kheme. Among the
, ,
many other names which the Egyptians called their country

may be mentioned Baqet, i.e. the “ of the olive/’ y
land
Ta-mera, i.e., “ land of the inundation.’
the From the 1
earliest to the latest times the Egyptians referred to their
country as Taui, UE
xx xx
i.e.. the “Two Lands,” and this name
indicates that Egypt was always divided into two parts, viz.,
the “Land of the North,” i.e. Lower Egypt, and the “Land
y
of the South,” i.e ., Upper Egypt.

For administrative purposes Ancient Egypt was, in
dynastic times, divided into districts, to which classical
writers gave the name of nomes. The number of these
varies in the different accounts given by Greek and Roman
writers from thirty-six to forty there appears to be some ;
reason for thinking that the nomes were forty-two in number

Lower Egypt containing twenty, and Upper Egypt twenty-two.
In quite late times the Greeks divided Egypt into three
parts— Upper, Central, and Lower Egypt ; Central Egypt
contained seven nomes, and was called Heptanomis.
* This name means “ house of the double of Ptah.”
THE HOMES AND THEIR CAPITALS. 67
List of Nomes of Egypt.

Upper Egypt.
Capital and God Capital and God
Nome. Nome.
or Goddess. or Goddess.
Abu.*
tine.
Elephan-
Aswdn.
Khnemu.
10.
4*
Uatchet.
Tebu. Aphrodit-
opolis.
Hathor.
11.
Shas-hetep. Hyp-
^ Teb. Apollin- selis.Skuth
opolis Magna.
-& Set.
Khnemu.
Edfii.
Heru-Behutet. 12.
Thes-Heru. Nut-ent-bak.
Hierakonpolis.
E Nekheb. Eilei-
THYIASPOLIS.
Tu-f.
Horus.
nr
4 -
Ten.
Al-Kdb.
Nekhebit.
Uast. Thebes (or

13 A Saut. Lykopolis.
AsyAt.
Ap-uat.
Am-f-khent.
f Hermonthis).
Luxor ILarnak.
,
u2 t. Amen-Ra.
14. Kesi. Kusae.
Al-Kusiyah .
Hathor.
Kebti. Coptos.
Ik Ik Kuft.
Am-f-peh.
Herui.
Amsu, or Menu.
Khemenu. Her-
6 . // Taenterert.
nr MOPOLIS.
muncn.
Ash-
Tentyris. Unt. Thoth.

Denderali .
Aati.
Hathor. Hebennu.
16.
Horus.
n~
Ha. Diospolis
Parva. Hau.
nr
Mahetch.
Seshesh.
r t
Abt.
Hathor.
Teni. This.
An- Her.
17
n
Anpu (?).
Kasa.
POLIS.
Anubis.
Kynon-
Al-Kes .
Het-suten, Al-
18. '
Hibah.
Apu. Panopolis.
nr Akhmtm. nr
Sept.
Anubis.
Amsu, or Menu.
* Names printed in heavy type are Egyptian ; those in capitals are Greek,
and those in italics are the names by which the places are known by the
modern Arabs.
E 2
.
68 the nomes and their capitals.

Nome. Nome. or Goddess.
or Goddess.
Smen-Heru.
19. Pa- Match et.
OXYRRHYNCHUS. Khnemu.
-NT Bahnassd .
Bu-tchamui
Set.
20.
m
T
Suten-henen.
Herakleopolis
Magna. Ahnas.
(The Hanes of
22. Tep-Ahet.
RODITOPOLIS.
Aph-
Am-Khent. Atfih.
the Bible.)
Maten. Hathor.
Heru-shefit.
Loiver
Thekaut (Suc-
V
T
Anebhetch.
Men-Nefert.
Memphis.
Mit-Rahinah.
coth),Pa-Tem
(Pithom). Pa-
tumos. Tall
Ptah. Nefer-Abt. al-Maskhutah
crV^ ? )
A tern, or Temu.
Sekhem. Let-
2.
nr OPOL1S. Pa-Asar.
A. Heru-ur. Busiris.
Abd-Str.
Athi (?) Osiris.
Pa-neb- Amt.
Apis. 10.
'
Het-ta-her-
Ament. Hathor. '
^ *
abt.
Ka-Qem. Athribis.
Heru -Khenti-
Tcheka. Khati.
Amen-Ra.
II. Hesbet (?) Ka-
T“ ©
v
Sapi-Rest. Hebset (?).
‘
Kabasos.
Ka-heseb.
Isis or Sebek.
Saut. Sais.
Sd ^ Theb-neter(?).
.
12 .
Neith. Sebennytos.
^
Sapi-Meht. * Sammandd,
Theb- An-Her.
Khasut. Xois.
* 3 -
Annu (The On
Amen-Ra. VL^“ © of the Bible).
Heliopolis.
Ka-semt. Heq-at.
Mat arty ah.
Temu.
7. wff Pa-Ahu-neb-
Ament. 14 -
Tchal. Tanis.
San.
Metelis (?).
Khent-abt. Horus.
Nefer- Ament. flu.
— -
MODERN PROVINCES OF EGYPT.

Nome. Nome. or Goddess.
or Goddess.
Pa-Tehuti. Pa- Bast.

Hermopolis PlBESETH
Tehuti. Minor. Bubastis.
Thoth. Am-Khent. Tall Bast ah.
Bast.
Pa-Ba-neb
Tet. Men- 19. Pa-Uatchet.
Hatmehit des. Tmai V Buto.
al-Amdid. Uatchet.
Osiris.
Am-peh,
Pa - Khen - en- Kesem. Pha-

Amen. kussa.
Diospolis. Fakus .
Behutet. Amen-Ra. Sept.
Modern Egypt is divided for administrative purposes into

Fourteen Provinces, of which six are in Lower Egypt and
eight in Upper Egypt.
Lower Egypt contains : —
1. Baherah, with eleven districts ; the capital is Damanhur,
and the population (including the Oasis of Siwah, 3,884)
is 798,473.
2. Kalyubiyah, with four districts the capital is Benha,

;
and the population is 434,575.

3. Sharkiyah, with six districts ; the capital is Zakazik,
4. Dakhaliyah, with six districts ; the capital is Mansurah,
5. Menufiyah, with five districts ; the capital is Shibin
al-Kom, and the population is 970,581.
6. Gharbiyah, with eleven districts ; the capital is Tanta,
and the population is 1,484,814.
Upper Egypt contains :
1. Gizah, with four districts ; the capital is Al-Gizah, and

the population is 460,080.
2. Beni = Suwef, with three districts; the capital is Beni-
Suwef, and the population is 372,412.
3. Minya, with eight districts ; the capital is Minya, and
the population is 659,967. This number includes the
people of the Oasis of Bahriyah (6,773), and of the
O^sis of Farafrah (532).
70 POPULATION OF EGYPT.
4. Asyut, with nine districts ; the capital is Asyut, and

the population is 903,335. This number includes the
people of the Oasis of Dakhlah (18,638), and of the
Oasis of Khargah (8,383).
5. Girga, with five districts ; the capital is Suhag, and
6. Kena, with six districts ; the capital is Kena, and the
population is 772,492.
7. Aswan,with three districts ; the capital is Aswan, and
8. Fayyum, with three districts ; the capital is Madinat
al-Fayyum, and the population is 441,583.
The large towns like Alexandria, Port Sa‘id, Ismahliyah,
Suez, Cairo, Damietta, Al-‘Arish, are generally governed by
native rulers ; to these must be added the province of Aswan.
—
Population of Egypt. In a country like Egypt, which
contains so many people who only live in the country for a
part of each year, it is exceedingly difficult to obtain an accurate
statement of the number of the inhabitants. Ancient Egyptian
texts throw no light on the matter, and we may assume that
the Egyptians, like most other Oriental peoples, took no trouble
to number the people ; so long as kings and governors could
“ squeeze ” out of the inhabitants whatever supplies they
needed, the number of the inhabitants who contributed to
them mattered little. According to Mommsen, 7,500,000
people paid poll-tax in the reign of Vespasian, and if, as he
believed, about 500,000 were exempt, it follows that the
population of Egypt under the Romans amounted to about
8,000,000, without reckoning slaves. In 1 800 the population
was said to be about 2,460,200, and some fifty or sixty years
later Sir Gardner Wilkinson, who knew Egypt well, estimated
it at one million less. In 1821 the population was 2,536,400,
and in 1846 4,476,440. The census published in 1884
declared that in 1882 the population of Egypt amounted
to 6,831,131 persons, of whom 3,216,847 were men, and
3,252,869 were women. Included in the number of 6,831,131
persons were 98,196 nomads, 245,779 desert Arabs (commonly
called Bedawin), and 90,886 foreigners. According to the
census of 1897 the population of Egypt amounted to
9,734,405 persons, of whom 4,947,850 were males ar.d
4,786,555 were females; in Upper Egypt the population
was 4,058,296, and in Lower Egypt, 5,676,109. These
people occupied 3,692 towns and villages, and 14,449 hamlets
— —
POPULATION OF EGYPT. 71
and smaller collections of houses. The number of houses

occupied was 1,422,302, and the increase in the population
since 1882 is 43 per cent. The Muhammadans numbered
8,978,77 5, the Jews 25,200, and the Christians 730,162.
The population of Cairo is 654,476 ; of Alexandria, 332,246 ;
Port Said, 49,884 ; Ismalliyah, 11,448 Al-‘Arish, 5,897 Suez,
; ;
18,347 Sinai, 1,510; Damietta, 115,700; Tanta, 255,465;

;
Mansiirah, 152,445; Zakazik, 232,824; Asyut, 129,271;

Madinat al-Fayyum, 147,324.
The total population of Egypt, including 97,381 nomads,
was in1907, 11,287,359, of which 5,667,074 were males and
5,620,285 females. As Egypt contains 12,026 square miles,
the density of the population is 939 to the square mile. The
most densely populated country in Europe is Belgium, with
5887 persons to the square mile. In Egypt the people are
spread over 2 cities, 43 towns, and 3,581 villages. The net
increase during the ten years (1897-1907) is 1,570,131 or
16 per cent., which gives an annual increase of 1*5 per cent,
between 1897 and 1907. The increase of population in Cairo
was 84,414, and in Alexandria 50,243 persons. The number
of Muhammadans in 1897 was 8,992,203, or 92*2 per cent,
of the population in 1907 it was 10,269,445, or 91*8 per cent,
;
of population.
the The number of Copts in 1897 was
609,511, or 6*25 per cent, of the population; in 1907 it was
706,322, or 6*31 per cent, of the population. Of the Copts
the Orthodox numbered 667,036, the Roman Catholic 14,576,
and the Protestant 24,710 in 1907 ; in 1897 the numbers were
592,374, 4,630, and 12,507 respectively. The Jews numbered
38,635 in 1907. The numbers of the various European
nationalities are :
Increase or
Nationality. 1907. 1897. Decrease.
Greek ... 62,975 38,208 24,767
Italian ... 34,926 24,454 + 10,472
British ... 20,653 19,563 + 1,090
F rench ... 14,591 14,172 + 419
Austrian ... ... 7,704 7,115 + 589
Russian ... 2,410 3,192 - 782
German ... ... 1,847 1,281 + 566
Spanish ... 797 765 + 32
Swiss 637 472 + 165
Belgian 340 256 + 84
Dutch 185 247 - 62
Forty-one per cent, of the total male populatioia is engaged

in agricultural pursuits :
72 PEASANT PROPRIETORS.
Occupation. Males. Females. Total.
Agriculture 2,335.870 104,160 2,440,030

Industries 360,537 i 9,9 i 6 380,453
Trade and transport ... 254,671 7,675 262,346
Public services (includ-
ing army and police) 104,561 361 105,922
Professional classes 135,733 8,346 144,079
Miscellaneous (includ-
ing unemployed) 2,472,702 5,479,827 7,954,529
Total 5,667,074 5,620,285 11,287,359
It will be noted that the number of CQpts in Egypt in 1907 was

706,322, or 6*31 per cent, of the population, and the reader will remember
that during the winter of 1910-n certain members of the Coptic commu-
nity complained bitterly of the treatment which they received from the
British rulers of Egypt as compared with their Muhammadan fellow-
countrymen. A number of self-constituted representatives (about 500) of
the Copts, who could not claim to represent more than 12,000 of their co-
religionists, assembled in Congress at Asyut, and claimed: I. The right —
of the Copts to take advantage of the educational facilities provided by the
new Provincial Councils. 2. Recognition of capacity as the sole test for
admission to Government appointments. 3. Representation of the Coptic
community in the representative institutions of Egypt. 4. Permission for
non- Muslims in Government offices and schools to substitute another day
for Friday as their day of rest. 5. Conferring of Government grants on
all deserving institutions without invidious distinction. These claims
having been enquired into by the Government it was found that in so far
as claim No. 1 is concerned there was no solid ground for complaint. As
regards claim No. 2 the following table shows the proportional employment
of Muslims and Copts in the Egyptian Civil Service in April, 1911 -
Department. Muslims. Copts.

Number. Percentage. Number. Percentage.
Interior 2,346 37*70 3,878 62*30
Public Works 604 70-64 251 29*36
Justice 1,261 85*15 220 14*85
Education 995 93*86 66 6-14
Finance 1,301 55*76 1,032 44-24
Railway and Telegraph 2,700 5 i ’92 2,500 48 ‘08
War 307 69*45 i 35 30*55
Totals 9,514 54*69 8,082

*
45 3 i
These figures indicate that the Copts are represented in the Egyptian
Civil Service, both as regards numbers and salaries, to an almost dispro-
portionate extent. In fact they have more than their share of Government
appointments. Their only possible grievance lies in the fact that the posts
of Mudir, Governor, and Ma’amur are held by Muslims, but it must be said
that in this case, as elsewhere, the tests of capacity and natural aptitude
are applied. As a rule the Muslim is a man of action, and as a rule the
Copt is not ; moreover, in Upper Egypt at least he is not popular, and the
Muslims would not obey him. As to claim No. 3 the Copt must always,
by reason of his number, be in a minority on every governing body. As
PEASANT PROPRIETORS, 73
to claim No. 4 his cry for Sunday as a rest day is unreasonable. Facilities
are given to every Copt to attend his church on Sunday morning, and on
their New Year and Easter Festivals they are not required to be in their
offices. Moreover, they profit by all Muslim holidays. As to claim No. 5
none of their charities can be regarded as national institutions, and there-
fore no Government ought to support them. If we consider the wealth of
the Copts such a claim is incomprehensible.
The area actually under cultivation was estimated by

Boinet Bey in 1899 to be 5,650,000 feddans, out of a possible
total of 8,ooo,oco feddans, i.e., 33,607 square kilometres, or
12,976 square miles; therefore to every 100 feddans there were
122 inhabitants, that is to say, 289 inhabitants to every square
kilometre, or 750 inhabitants to the square mile. Thus no
country in Europe was so densely populated as Egypt.
The general policy of the Egyptian Government is, without
resorting to any protective measures, to do all that is possible
to maintain in existence the present proprietary class, and
to encourage its growth. The large reductions in the land
tax ; the increase of productivity arising from the improved
system of irrigation ; the establishment of the Agricultural
Bank and of Post Office Savings Banks ; the partition of
Government lands, when sold, into small lots ; the adoption
of the system of paying the purchase price by annuities ; the
leniency with which the land tax has been collected on
lands only partially irrigated the abolition of the octroi
;
duties, which has increased the demand for agricultural

produce; the abolition of the dues on the navigation of the
Nile, and the reduction of the railway tariff, which have
enabled the produce to be transported at relatively low prices
to the nearest markets ; the abolition of the sheep and goat
tax, and several other measures, have all tended in this direc-
tion. Small proprietors of land are holding their own, and they
show no tendency to disappear. Between 1900 and 1904, the
acreage held by the proprietors of over 50 acres increased by
95, 956 acres. The total area of land under cultivation was
152,532 acres more in 1904 than it was in 1900. The
distribution of land as between Europeans and natives does
not appear to. have undergone any material change. In 1900,
6,347 Europeans held 586,149 acres of land, and in 1904,
6,165 Europeans held 630,925 acres. In 1900, 908,067 native
proprietors held 4,527,903 acres of land, and in 1904, 1,083,877
native proprietors held 4,635,659 acres. In 1908 about 6,105
Europeans held 710,898 acres of land, and 1,303,983 native
proprietors held 4,762,017 acres,
74
CHAPTER VI.
White Nile, the Nile, the Blue Nile, the Atbara, the
Upper Nile, the Cataracts, Irrigation, etc.
The Nile is unquestionably one of the most important and
interesting rivers in the world, for it and its two great tribu-
taries, the Blue Nile and the Atbara, have transported soil
from the highlands of north-east Africa, and laid it down
many hundreds of miles from whence it came, and have thus
formed Egypt. The Nile* has in all ages been considered a
mysterious river, and when we remember that it was and still
is the mainstay of all life in Egypt, and the source of all pros-
perity in that land, it is not difficult to understand why the

ancient Egyptians worshipped it. There is no reason for
supposing that the pre-dynastic and dynastic Egyptians ever
took the trouble to trace it systematically to its source, or that
they ever attempted to define its influence upon themselves
and their character, except in a rough and ready way; but
there is no doubt that they were awestruck at the river which
pursued its way resistlessly and unceasingly through hundreds
of miles of blazing desert, without any apparent diminution,
and they felt themselves justified in regarding it as one of the
mightiest of the manifestations of the Creator of the world to
His people. Year by year they saw it rise little by little, until
at length, with a burst, it overflowed all obstacles, and carried
its mud-laden waters over the fields until they reached, and
sometimes flooded, the skirts of the desert, and year by year

they saw its waters subside, and the river return to its bed, and
great crops spring luxuriantly out of the mud which they had
leftbehind them.
Experience soon showed them that in the year in which the
Nile flood was abundant, food was cheap, cattle flourished,
and the prosperity of the country was assured for the year;
similarly, when the Nile flood was too great or too little,
grain was dear, the cattle languished, business was paralysed,
and want and misery filled the land. Everything in Egypt
depended on the Nile, and it is not too much to say that the
river was the cause not only of the physical characteristics of
the Egyptians, but also of their learning and civilization. As
* The word “Nile ” is thought to be derived from the Semitic ttakhal,
in Hebrew
THE NILE A SOURCE OF CIVILIZATION. 75
itwas of vital importance to the Egyptian to know when the

Nile would rise, so that he might have his fields ready to
receive its life-giving waters, and might make his domestic
arrangements accordingly, he learned to watch the seasons and
to measure time, and, as he no doubt made use of the stars for
the purpose, he acquired rough ideas of chronography and
astronomy. His need to make the greatest possible use of
the waters of the inundation taught him to build small dykes
and dams and embankments, and the example of the river, in
spreading mud over the land yearly, showed him the necessity
of top-dressing and of some kind of manure. In the earliest
times, before he had learned to construct large canals and
irrigation basins for the reception of the water, all the artificial
divisions of the land into estates and properties were destroyed
each year, and he was compelled to devise a system of men-
suration which would enable a man to regain either his own
property or its equivalent, and to work out a system of land
valuation in which the distance of an estate from the river,
the quality of the soil, etc., were carefully considered and
provided for. In order to reckon the produce of the
land he had to learn to count, and as records of sales of land
and of exchanges were needed, systems of numbers, weights,
measures, and some kind of writing would necessarily grow
into existence.
That disputes should arise would be inevitable, and we may
be certain that the settlement of these would, at a very early
period, be committed to disinterested outsiders or friends who
were supposed to have some knowledge of the matter, and in
this way the “ custom of the country” would grow into a law,
and the decisions of the arbitrators would form precedents, and
those who gave them would gradually acquire the power of
judges in a modern court of law. Among the laws which
would be made for the protection of property, wives and
families, cattle, crops, etc., none were more carefully observed
than those which referred to the protection of water-courses
and the purity of the water. And it is certain that in the
religion of the primitive Egyptians the worship of the Nile
played the most prominent part, for in the dynastic period,
when men knew more about the river, the praises which they
offered to the Nile-god show that they regarded the celestial
and terrestrial Niles as the sources of life, both of gods and
men. The Nile was declared by the Egyptians to be “ a
mystery,” and they felt that its source was “ hidden ” from
?6 THE NILE A MYSTERY.
them ;
in other words, the Nile was unlike any other river
known to them. And this is no other river in the
true, for
world has exactly the same characteristics, and no other river has
formed a whole country quite in the same way, and no other
river has impressed so deeply upon the people, who have lived
on the soil which it has brought from remote distances, its own
characteristics of isolation, reserve, and conservatism.
The sources of the Nile, that is to say, of the Upper
Nile, the White Nile, and the river from Khartum to the
sea, were declared by Captains Grant and Speke, and by
Sir Samuel Baker, to be Albert N’yanza and Victoria N’yanza,
but according to Sir W. Willcocks, its sources lie to the
south of Victoria N’yanza, and it takes its rise in the Kagera
River, at a spot a few degrees south of the Equator. This view
has, however, been proved to be erroneous by Sir W. Garstin,
who shows that the Kagera represents the united flow of
three rivers, and that the true source of the Nile is Lake
Victoria itself. The most recent writer on the subject is
Capt. H. G. Lyons, who says “ It has been maintained that
:
the Kagera is the actual upper course of the Nile, and that
before the subsidence took place which formed Lake Victoria,
the Kagera flowed between the Sesse Islands and the western
shore, then skirted the present northern shore by Rosebery
Channel to Napoleon Gulf to join the Nile at the Ripon Falls ;
a distinct current is also mentioned as setting across from the
Kagera to the Ripon Falls. Seeing how small an effect the
volume discharged by the Kagera, even in the rainy season,
can have on the water of this vast lake, any such current must
be an effect of the prevalent winds, and as we have seen that
winds blow from lake to shore by day at almost all seasons, it
is more than probable that in places a regular drift of the
surface water may be caused ” (Physiography p. 58). ,

Victoria
N’yanza, i.e., Lake Victoria, which covers an area of 70,000
square kilometres, is the first reservoir of the Nile ; it lies in
the region of almost perpetual rains, and receives an excessive
supply of water from its western tributaries, from subsoil
springs and heavy rainfall. The second reservoir of the Nile
is Lake Albert, which has an area of 4,500 square kilometres,
and Lake Albert in its turn is fed from Lake Edward, which
has an area of 4,000 square kilometres. Lake Victoria is
1,130 metres above sea-level, and 500 metres higher than
Lake Albert. The White Nile between these lakes is called
the Victoria Nile, or the Somerset River, From Lake
SUDD ON THE BAHR AL-GEBEL. 77
Victoria to Lake Albert is a distance of 242 miles, and when

the Nile leaves Lake Albert it flows in a steady stream, with
scarcely any slope or velocity to Dufili, a distance of 125 miles.
From this place it passes over the Fola Falls, and runs as a
torrent to Lado for another 125 miles. From Lado the river
flows in a single channel to Bohr about 75 miles, and then
by many channels traverses a distance of 235 miles, when it
meets the Bahr aUGhazal, or Gazelle River. The main
stream between Lake Albert and Lake No is called Bahr aU
Gebel, i.e., the “ Mountain River.” Until recent years the
fairways of this and the Gazelle River were seriously obstructed
by nineteen dense barriers of floating vegetation, to which the
natives have given the name of Sadd,* commonly pronounced
“ Sudd.”
In 1900 Colonel Peake cut through the sadd on the Bahr
al-Gebel, and so established communication with the upper
waters of the Nile. For 172 miles north of Shambi, the true
bed of the Nile could not be found, and Colonel Peake was
obliged to force a passage through a series of shallow lakes
lying to the west of the true bed. Since 1900 this route has
been used for boat and steamer traffic. In 1901 Lieutenant
Drury (late R.N.) removed the worst of the blocks of sadd
remaining north of Ghaba Shambi, and thus opened up to
navigation a further length of 147 miles of channel; there still
remained, however, the most formidable obstacle of all,
namely, a reach of some 25 miles in length in which the river
had practically disappeared. In 1902 Major G. E. Matthews
discovered the true bed of the river, and made some progress
towards clearing a channel. In 1903-04 Lieutenant Drury and
Mr. Poole resumed operations, and by their strenuous exertions
they succeeded in clearing a passage by which freedom of
navigation in the waters of the Upper Nile has at all times
been secured. Meanwhile sadd cutting has been carried on in
the Bahr al-Ghazal or Jur River, and during the flood of 1903
a waterway was cleared to Waw, and steamers succeeded in
reaching that spot.
To keep the river free of sadd is a very difficult matter, and
year by year the Sudan Government are obliged to spend a
considerable sum of money in cutting the blocks as they form,
and in keeping the fairway clear. The blocks form very
quickly, and are sometimes so thick that they have to be
* An Arabic word meaning “barrier, block, obstruction, ” etc.

78 THE BLUE NILE AND WHITE NILE.
blown up with charges of dynamite. Miralai E. E. Bond,

director of steamers, describes the blocking of the Bahr al-
Ghazal in 1906 ( Reports p. 470) in a graphic narrative, which
,
forms both interesting and instructive reading.

The Bahr al-Ghazal flows into the Upper Nile on its left bank,
and at the junction is Lake No with an area of 150 square
kilometres in summer ; here the waters of the Nile become
polluted with decaying vegetable matter, and the green colour
which is the result is, according to Sir W. Willcocks, observable
so far north as Cairo in June and July. This green colour is
due to large quantities of microscopic algae which are floating
in the water, and it is the oil contained in some of these which
gives the unpleasant taste and smell. The principal algae are
the Aphanizomenon Kaufmanni, the Synedra acus, and the
Anahaena variabilis. It has usually been supposed that the
green water is caused by the mingling of the swamp water
with that of the Nile, but Captain Lyons has shown (Egypt,
No. 1 (1903), p. 70) that this explanation is untenable, and
that the real source of the algae which are brought into the
river in the early part of May is the Sobat River. The algae
thrive in clear Nile water at low stage and under a hot sun,
but are killed when the turbid flood arrives. The green
water has been observed in a continuous stretch from
Kalabshah to Cairo, about 564 miles. For the most recent
discussion on the subject, see Lyons, Physiography p. 172. ,
Sixty miles further north the Sobat River flows into the Nile
on the right bank. Lakes Victoria, Albert, and Edward, the
Bahr al=Zarafah, or Giraffe River, the Bahr al-Ghazal and
Sobat Rivers are the sources of the Upper Nile. Between Lake
No and Khartum the river is known as the White Nile. About
560 miles further north is the town of Khartum, towards which
the White Nile flows in a stream more than a mile wide, and
feet deep. Between Khartum and the sea the river is
known as the “ Nile. ,? The total distance from Ripon Falls
to Khartum by river is about 1,560 miles ; from Khartum to
Aswan is 1,165 miles, and from Aswan to the sea is 748 miles
more therefore, the length of the Nile is 3,473 miles. If
;
we add the length of the Kagera River, which rises near the
northern end of Lake Tanganyika, about 375 miles south of
Lake Victoria, and also the length of the lake itself, about
250 miles, as many do, the total becomes 4,098 miles.
The town of Khartum is built at the junction of the Bahr
0
al-Azrak, or Blue Nile, with the White Nile in 15 36' N. lat.,
;;
THE ATBARA. 79
0
and 32 32' E. long., and it is 1,253 feet above sea-level. The
Blue Nile, called by the Abyssinians the Abai, or Abawi, is
about 960 miles long. It rises in the mountains of Abyssinia,
near Sakala, and enters Lake Sana after a course of about
155 miles ; it leaves the Lake at its southern end. Lake
Sana has an area of 3,000 square kilometres, and is about
5,785 feet above the level of the sea. Its perimeter is about
163 miles. The waters of the Abai are nearly clear in summer,
but from the beginning of June to the end of October they are
reddish-brown in colour and highly charged with alluvium
because of this colour the river has been called Bahr al-Azrak,
77
i.e., the “lurid river, as opposed to Bahr al-Abyad, i.e. “ the
y
or White Nile.
7
clear river, ’
Strictly speaking, the Nile of
history is the stream which is formed by the Upper Nile, the
White Nile, and the Blue Nile. About 201 miles north of
Khartum the river Atbara flows into the Nile on the east
bank, after a course of about 790 miles. This river is fed by
the Abyssinian torrents, and in flood is of great size ; its waters
are heavily charged with volcanic dust, and it provides the
greater part of the rich fertilizing mud which the Nile carries
in flood. The Atbara is in flood from July to October, and its
stream is greatest in August. North of the Atbara junction
the Nile has no other tributary, and it flows to the sea in a
solitary stream.
Between Khartum and the sea the Nile has six Cataracts.
The Sixth Cataract (Shablukah) is 56 miles north of Khartum,
and the Nile drops about 20 feet in little over one mile in length.
The Fifth Cataract is 32 miles to the north of the Atbara,
and is over 100 miles long ; in the course of it the Nile drops
205 feet. About 60 miles lower down is the Fourth Cataract,
which is 66 miles long ; in the course of it the Nile drops
160 feet. Between the Fourth and the Third Cataracts is a
reach of 196 miles of open water; it begins about 12 miles
above Gebel Barkal, and ends at Kermah. At the last-named
place begins the Third Cataract, which is 45 miles long
in the course of it the Nile drops 36 feet. The Second
Cataract begins about 70 miles further north; it is 125 miles
long, and in the course of it the Nile drops about 213 feet.
The town of Wadi Halfarh lies a few miles to the north of the
foot of it, on the east bank. The name given by the natives
to the region through which the Second Cataract passes is
“ Batn al-Hagar, i.e., “ Belly of Stone. 77 At Sernnah, which is
77
rather more than 40 miles south of Wadi Halfah, are the rocks
8o THE SIX CATARACTS.
whereon Lepsius discovered the Nile gauges which were cut by

order of the kings of the Xllth dynasty, about 2300 b.c., and
these show that the Nile flood recorded there was 26 feet
higher than any flood of to-day. The distance between the
Second and First Cataracts is 214 miles, and the stream is on
an average 1,630 feet wide. The river in this reach is provided
with gigantic spurs, which were built by one of the ancient
kings to collect soil on the sides in flood, and to train the
river in summer. The First Cataract is three miles long,
and in the course of it the river drops between 16 and 17 feet.
The Egyptians at one period of their history, for some
unaccountable reason, believed that the source of the Nile
was near Aswan, and that it lay under two rocks, which they
called Qerti these rocks are mentioned by Herodotus,
;
who calls them K puxfii and and he says that they

were situated between the Islands of Elephantine and Philse.
Muhammadan writers also thought that the Nile Springs were
at Aswan. From Aswan to the Barrage, which lies a little
to the north of Cairo, the distance is about 600 miles.
Classical writers tell us that in ancient days the Nile
emptied itself into the sea by seven mouths, to which
were given the names Pelusiac, Tanitic, Mendesian, Phat-
nitic, Sebennytic, Bolbitic, and Canopic. Fourteen miles to
the north of Cairo the Nile becomes two branches, which
are known as the Rosetta and Damietta arms respectively;
each of these is about 150 miles long.
It has already been said that a register of the height of the
Nile flood was found at Semnah in the Second Cataract, and
that it dated from 2300 B.c., and we must note that a Nile
gauge existed on the Island of Elephantine, opposite to the
town of Aswan, at the foot of the Cataract, from very early
times. It seems that the readings of the gauge at
Elephantine * were always used as a base for calculating
the general prosperity of Egypt year by year. In the reign
of Severus an officer of the Roman garrison there noted
an exceptionally high Nile, but the maximum flood mark
noted by the members of Napoleon’s great expedition was
2 *ii metres higher than the mark made by the Roman officer.
The French savants, reckoning from the middle of the reign
of Severus (say a.d. 200) to a.d. 1800, concluded that the bed
and banks of the Nile had risen 2*11 metres in 1,600 years,
* The new Nilometer, divided into cubits and twenty-fourths, was set
up in 1869.
;
THE RAINY SEASON AND INUNDATION. 8l
or 0*132 metre per 100 years.* Remains of Nilometers, or

flood-marks, exist also at Kubosh, Taifah, PhiLe, Ombo, Kom
Silsilah,EdfA, Esna, Karnak Luxor, Tehnah, and Kom al-
,
Gizah.f On the Island of Rodah is another very old Nilometer,

which was restored in the 9th century ; its zero is, however, said
to be at the same level as a more ancient one whose readings
have been preserved since 641. When the gauge was con-
structed a reading of 16 cubits meant the lowest level at
which flood irrigation could be ensured everywhere. The
level to-day is 20J cubits on the gauge, and the difference
between them is 1*22 metres, and from these facts Sir W.
Willcocks concludes that the river bed has risen 12 centimetres
per 100 years.
In the region of Lake Victoria the rainy season lasts from
February to November, with one maximum in April and
another in October; at Lado the rains last from April to
November, in the Valley of the Sobat from June to November,
in the Valley of the Bahr al-Ghazal from April to September,
at Khartum from July to September, and in Abyssinia there
are light rains in January and February. Thus it is clear
that in every month of the year, except December, rain, which
is destined to flow into the Nile, is falling into one or other
of the great reservoirs, or sources of that great river. Before

the construction of the Aswan Dam Sir W. Willcocks estimated
that the water took eight days to travel from Lake Victoria to -
Lake Albert five days from Lake Albert to lado ; 36 days

;
from Lado to Khartum in low supply, and 20 days in flood

26 days from Khartfim and Aswan in low supply and 10 days
in flood; 12 days from Aswan to Cairo in low supply and
five days in flood three days from Cairo to the sea in low
;
supply and two days in flood. Thus it takes 90 days for the
water in low supply to travel from Lake Victoria to the sea,
and in flood 50 days. The water of the Blue Nile travels
from its source to Khartilm in low supply in 17 days, and in
* It is clear that about a.d. ioo the Nile often rose to 24 and sometimes
above 25 cubits on the Nilometer scale, so that the high floods of that
time reached the level of 91 metres above sea-level. To-day they reach
94 metres, as in 1874, or 3 metres above the level of about 1,900 years ago,
corresponding to a rise of the bed of o’ 16 metre per century at this point.
If the mean flood level of the last 36 years is taken, the height becomes
93 metres and the rise o*n metre per century. (Lyons, Physiography ,
P- 315)-
t See Borchardt, Nilmesser und Nilstandmarken (Abhand. der kgl.
freuss., AkaidL d. Wissenschaft, Berlin, 1905b
82 IRRIGATION OF EGYPT.
flood in seven days ;

and the Atbara and the Sobat Rivers
take about five days in flood. It is now calculated that it
takes the water in flood 50 days to reach the sea from Lake Vic-
toria and one of its tributaries, the Kagera, a distance of, say,
4,000 miles, which gives the speed of the current at 3-Jr miles
per hour. At low Nile it travels at two miles per hour. The
amount of silt brought down is now said to be 100,000,000 tons.
The following are the principal facts about the Inunda^
tion : —
In a usual season the heavy rains begin in April and
force down the green water of the swampy region, which used
to reach Cairo about June 20th. The White Nile begins to
rise at Lado aboutApril 15th, and this rise is felt at Khartum
about May 20th. The floods of the White Nile and Sobat
reach Khartum about September 20th. About June 5th the
Blue Nile begins to rise, and is in flood about August 25th.
The Atbara flood begins in the early part of July, and is
highest about August 20th. The Nile continues to rise
until the middle of September, when it remains stationary
for a period of about three weeks, sometimes a little less.
In October it rises again and attains its highest level. From
this period it begins to subside, and, though it rises yet once
more, and reaches occasionally its former highest point, it
sinks steadily until the month of June, when it is again at its
lowest level.
The irrigation of Egypt is gauged by the height of the
river at Aswan. When the maximum rise of the river is only
21 feet there will be famine in parts of Upper Egypt; when
the rise is between 21 and 23 feet much of the land of Upper
Egypt will be imperfectly watered ; when the rise is between
23-5 feet and 25 feet certain lands will only be watered with
difficulty; when the rise is between 25 feet and 26^ feet the
whole country can be watered ; when the rise is between
26^ feet and 28 feet the country will be flooded ; and any rise
beyond the last figure will spell misery and the ruin of many.
From what has been said above about the Nile flood and
the formation of Egypt it will be clear that the land is highest
near the river bank and lowest near the desert; this is not
only true for the main stream itself, but for its branches also.
With a view of modifying the difficulty of \yatering the land
dykes have been constructed parallel with the Nile, and trans-
versely across the direction of the stream, These dykes,
enclose basins which are filled each year during the inunda-
tion, and nearly every basin ha s its canal which brings directly
;
IRRIGATION OF EGYPT. 83
into it the flood waters which are charged with alluvium.

Usually these canals are from 10 to 13 feet below the level of
the ground, and they thus become dry during the period of
the year when the Nile is not in flood. The mouths of such
canals which admit the Nile are stopped up each year, but are
opened about August 10th or 12th, so that the muddy waters
may flow in freely, The basins are grouped according to
system, and several of them may be supplied by one canal,
and the amount of water admitted into each basin can be
regulated by means of specially constructed apparatus, which
is usually built of stone. The water is allowed to stand in the
basins for 40 days, by the end of which time it will have
deposited all the earthy matter suspended in it, and then the
water which is left is allowed to flow out into the river by an
escape. The filling of the basins begins about August 12th,
but the time of emptying of them varies as we travel north-
wards, and the last basin is sometimes not emptied until
November nth. If the flood has been a good one the basins
are emptied directly into the river, but if it has not, and all the
basins have not been filled, wherever possible the upper series
of basins are allowed to discharge their contents into the river
by passing through the basins which were not sufficiently filled
during the flood. Between Kena and Suhak two systems of
basins cover a distance of 90 miles. The basins between
Suhak and 125 miles northwards are fed by the Suhakiyah
Canal, which is almost as large as a river; from the end of
this canal to Girga, a distance of 147 miles, the Bahr Yfisuf
and six canals feed the basins, and the Girga Canal feeds them
for 60 miles further north. The Ibrahimiyah Canal, dug by
Ismafil Pasha in 1873, waters the district which extends from
Asyfit northwards for a distance of close on 200 miles. The
dykes are about ii£ feet high, and are about 20 feet wide at
the top, and the average depth of the water in the basins is
5 feet. The villages in the basins are built on artificial mounds
faced with stone, and during the flood they resemble small
islands, between which communication is kept up by boat or by
dyke. An average-sized basin contains an area of 9,000 acres.
At the beginning of the XVIIth century all Lower Egypt was
irrigated by means of basins (Basin Irrigation), and the
whole country was under cultivation; but between 1700 and 1800
the population had dwindled from 12,000,000 to 2,450,000,
and irrigation had been abandoned over the greater part of
the Delta. About 1820 Muhammad ‘Ali changed the irriga-
f a
;;
84 THE CORVEE.
tion system of Lower Egypt by digging a number of deep

canals to contain water all the year round (Perennial Irriga =
tion) which permitted the cultivation of cotton on a large
scale. According to Sir W. Willcocks, this change was
unfortunate, for the old basins were neglected, the embank-
ments ploughed up, “and now that rich mud deposit, which
constituted the wealth of Lower Egypt for thousands of years,
can no longer be secured to renovate the land.” In other
words, perennial irrigation more quickly impoverishes the land
than basin irrigation. Meanwhile the work of converting the
basin system is going steadily on throughout Upper Egypt,
and up to the end of 1905 an area of 251,170 acres of basin
land had been converted at a total cost of £E. 1,740, 5 14. As
a result, certain lands in the Fayyum which were rented at
^"E.i i2 per acre in 1898, were rented in 1905 at £E.2'o$
,
per acre. The property of the Domains Administration, which

was worth in 1898 about Ê.402,000, was valued in 1899 at
Ê, 625,000, and at Ê. 1,300,000 in 1905. Elsewhere in
many places the land which in 1898 was valued at from
Ê.5 to £E.io per acre now fetches from Ê.25 to Ê.40
an acre (see the details in Egypt No. 1, 1906, p. 40).
,
To clear the old canals used to cost ^530, oco a year, to

dig the new ones cost ^3,300,000.
For irrigation purposes Lower Egypt is divided into five
circles. The first includes the provinces on the right bank
of the Damietta arm of the Nile, and four main canals
the second includes all the land between the Damietta
and Rosetta arms of the Nile, and has one main canal
and the third includes the province on the west bank of the
Rosetta arm of the Nile, and has one main canal. All
these canals take their supply directly from the Nile, and
their water surface is generally from 10 to 13 feet below
the level of the surrounding country. In 1899 the area of
Lower Egypt which was cultivated was about 3,430,000 acres,
and the yield was worth ^23,475,000 and it has been calcu-
;
lated that if the old system of irrigation could be restored the

value of the yield would be ^31,000,000, or a gain of
^7,000,000 per annum.
—
The Corvee. A moment’s consideration will convince
the reader that each year it is necessary to carry out a very
large amount of work in connection with the clearing of the
canals and the building up of dykes and embankments to keep
the waters of the Nile in their proper courses ; moreover, new
THE CORVEE. 85
cuttings have to be made, and the ravages caused by an

exceptionally high Nile must be made good before the inunda-
tion of the following year. No difficulty has ever been
experienced in getting men to repair the damages done to
the dykes by the river on their own immediate property, for
self-protection and self-interest are sufficiently strong incentives
to make men work. In the matter of works of general public
utility the case is different, and from time immemorial the
kings and rulers of Egypt have been compelled to force their
subjects to dig and clean the necessary canals, to build dykes,
and to guard the banks of the Nile during the inundation.
The fairest way would be, of course, to make each village
responsible for its own works, and when the interests of a
number of villages are involved, to make each community
supply itsdue proportion of labour. In practice, however,
it was found that works of public utility were consistently
neglected, until some calamity would force the attention of the
Government to take notice of the neglect, and then the strong
arm of the law would levy labour indiscriminately, and much
injustice would be done. As time went on labour was levied
j
for the performance of public works other than those connected
with the river, and in dynastic times it is certain that all the
great architectural wonders of the Pharaohs were raised by the
I
hands of unpaid labourers. So long as the men were employed
1 on works at no great distance from their villages, the hardship
was not necessarily very great, and cruelty only began when
they were torn from their homes and families and sent to
labour in places far away from them. It was natural that
terrible abuses should arise in connection with this system of
; forced labour, and they were probably never greater than
between 1800 and 1880.
So long as Egypt was irrigated by the basin system, which
has been briefly noticed above, the forced labour arrange-
ment was not a bad one, for during the months of the year
in which the works on the canals, banks, and dykes were
being carried on the agricultural population had nothing else
to do. When, however, Muhammad Ali changed the system
£
from basin to perennial irrigation the abuses became very

serious, and terrible injustice was done. Everybody had been
interested in filling the basins, and the burden had fallen upon
all. Under the new system the whole agricultural population
was employed to do work which benefited only the few.
Moreover, bodies of men were moved from district to district
86 THE CORVEE.
to work the whole summer through, whilst their own lands

remained untouched. This system of daily forced labour is
called corvee, and in the hands of Muhammad ‘Ali and
his immediate successors it became the curse of the country.
It will be remembered that Said Pasha employed the corvee
on the Suez Canal, and Ismail Pasha used it in working all
his vast estates, and even dug with it the Ibrahimiyah Canal,
which is nearly 200 miles long. Besides this, the favourite
nobles of the Pasha of Egypt employed it, without payment, on
their own estates, and any attempt at resistance on the part of
the workmen w as met by imprisonment, beating on the feet, or
r
death. Practically speaking, the men of the corvee spent six

months each year on canal work, and three months in pro-
tecting the river banks during the flood ; their own lands were
neglected, and though they did all the work they gained no
benefit from it. They had to feed themselves, and to provide
spades and baskets for their work, and if lights were required
at night when they were watching the river banks they had
to provide lanterns, and brushwood to repair any breach which
the water might make.
In Muhammad ‘Ali’s time every male between the ages of
15 and 50 had to serve, and one-fourth of the number of
available men was called out every 45 days. Nobles and
officials, of course, abused their positions and power, and
cases were common in which the corvee were doing the
work which their own men ought to have done, In 1881 it
was enacted that a man could free himself from the corvee
by providing a substitute, or by a payment in cash, which
amounted to 120 piastres in Lower Egypt and 80 piastres
in Upper Egypt ; the moneys so collected were to be devoted
to the reduction or suppression of forced labour. As a result
of this enactment every man who could raise 25.5*. freed himself,
and the whole of the corvee fell on the poorest classes in ;
fact, no man who owned more than five acres went to the corvee.
In 1885 the Egyptian Government spent ^30,000 on clearing
canals by contract instead of by forced labour, and dredging
was recommended for the larger canals and in 1886 ^250,000
;
were spent in the relief of the corvee, and thus, probably

for the first time in history, the Egyptian Government
contributed to the maintenance of the canals and river banks.
In 1889 the corvee was abolished, and it was decreed that
in 1890 no forced labour was to be used for the clearance of
canals and repairs of banks the Public Works Department
;
—
THE CORVEE. 87
undertook to do the whole of the earthwork repairs for the

sum of ^400,000. It must, however, be understood that the
obligation of guarding the river banks during the inundation
still devolved upon the people, and that it was, and still is,
necessary to call out a number of men each year to do this.

The number of men called out to guard the banks of the
Nile during the flood season since 1895 are as follows :
1895 •••
On 00 In)
men for 100 days.
1896 25,113 jj >>
1897 ... ... 10,830 >> »>
1898 19,326 a a
1899 ... 7 893, . a a
1900 14,180 a a
1901 8,763 if if
1902 4,970 if if
1903 ... 11,244 a a

1904 ... 13,788 a 69
1907 ... 12,152 , ,
IOO
1908 27,900 a if
1909 ... 20,837 ) 5 f f
1910 .. ... 19,201 a a
Lord Cromer thought that the present system did not

“ entail any very serious hardship on the population. At the
same time, it is unquestionably true that the employment of
forced labour for any purpose whatsoever is open to objection.
Now that other more pressing matters have been disposed of,
itis worthy of consideration whether the time has not come to
abolish the last vestige of a bad system. ” This was written in

1900. Mr. Verschoyle, Inspector-General of Irrigation for
Lower Egypt, thought (1904) that the policy of reducing flood
watchmen in the Delta had been rather overdone during the
last few years, and he reported that the banks, which had been
deprived of their protection of stakes and brushwood, had
suffered from water action. Under the rule of the British
in Egypt the men who are required for the protection of the
river banks are chosen with due regard to justice, and the
slight burden which falls upon the people is carefully adjusted,
every care being taken to prevent the creeping in of any
abuse, and the men called out recognize the justice of the
call. If the abolition of the corvee for the clearance of
the canals were the only benefit which had been conferred
by the British upon the Egyptians, it alone would be suffi-
cient to make the British Occupation of Egypt for ever
remarkable.
88
CHAPTER VII.
The Barrages on the Nile.
In connection with the foregoing article on the Nile it is

necessary to add here a few particulars concerning the great
engineering works which have been carried out for the purpose
of storing the waters of the river, and distributing them
systematically according to the needs and wants of the various
districts at different seasons of the year. The three greatest
—
and most important of these are: (i) The Barrages to the
north of Cairo ; (2) the Barrage at Asyflt ; (3) the Barrage at
Esna ; (4) the Dam at Aswan.
1. The Barrages North of Cairo. — We have seen above
that one of the Pharaohs marked the heights to which the Nile
rose at Semnah, and we know that on the front of the stone
quay at Thebes Shashanq I and his successors also recorded
the heights of the Nile floods in various years ; but, so far as
we know, no attempt was ever made by the ancient Egyptians
to build a dam or barrage across the main stream, or to
regulate the supply of its waters on any large scale. Yet the
idea of a dam must have occurred to many of the great
engineers of the Pharaohs, and the only wonder is that
Amenemhat III, who did so much for the irrigation of Egypt,
omitted to take in hand such an obvious work of improvement.
According to Major Sir R. H. Brown, R.E (History of the
.
Barrage Cairo , 1896), Clot Bey has put it on record that

,
Napoleon Bonaparte prophesied that the day would come when

barrages would be thrown across the Rosetta and Damietta
arms of the Nile, and that these, by means of coffer dams,
would allow the whole of the Nile stream to flow into either
branch, and in this manner the inundation would be doubled.
Soon after Muhammad ‘Ali became Viceroy of Egypt he began
to develop cotton growing, and he found that the basin system of
irrigation, which was then in operation, was unsuitable for his
purpose. In 1833 he decided that it was necessary to increase
the water in the Damietta branch, and in order to effect this
he proposed to dam the waters of the Rosetta branch, which
supplied Alexandria and a whole province with water, and
turn them into the Damietta branch. The Viceroy abandoned
his scheme on the suggestion of Linant de Bellefonds Bey, and
agreed to his proposal to throw a barrage across the head of
!
mougel’s barrages. 89
each branch of the Nile ; and such was the Viceroy’s haste to
have the work completed that he ordered the Pyramids to be
pulled down, and the stones of which they are built to be used
in constructing the new work. With consummate tact Linant
Bey proved that it would cost less to bring the stone from
a quarry than from the Pyramids, and thus the Pyramids were
spared. In 1833 Linant’s Barrage was begun by the
corvee, and work went on until 1835, when the cholera raged,
and the buildings came to a standstill; in 1837 Linant was made
Director of the Public Works Department, and, in brief, his
barrage was never finished. It is said that the Viceroy
regarded the cholera of 1835 as a sign that the Almighty was
displeased with his attempt to interfere with the arrangements
of the Nile which Nature had made. In 1842 Mougel Bey
proposed to the Viceroy a barrage which could be combined
with a fortress, and in 1843 he laid his plans before the
Council of Roads and Bridges ; the Rosetta Barrage was to
have 39 arches, and the Damietta 45, each being 8 metres
wide. The Damietta portion was begun in that same year,
and the Rosetta portion in ] 847 ; and Muhammad ‘Ali was so
impatient that he ordered 1,000 cubic metres of concrete to be
laid daily, whether it had time to “ set ” or not
Mougel, the engineer, endeavoured to carry out the
Viceroy’s orders, even though his knowledge told him that
it was bad for the work, and the result was, inasmuch as
the river was 3^ feet higher that year than it was the year
before, that part of the concrete was laid in running water.
The current carried away the lime from it the remainder,
;
of course, would not set, and the underground springs, forcing

their way up, destroyed the last chance of the success of
the work. Mougel wished to postpone the work for a year,
but the Viceroy would not permit it, and so the building went
on ;
in 1848 Muhammad ‘Ali died, without seeing the barrage
completed, and in 1853, as the result of an unfavourable
report, ‘Abbas Pasha, the new Viceroy, dismissed Mougel,
and told him to hand over his plans to Mazhar Bey. At that
time, although 47,000,000 francs had been spent on the
barrage, without mentioning the labour of the corvee and of
soldiers, scarcely any of the piers were above the level of the
water. The total cost of the barrage,
with its fortifications,
canal heads, etc., was about ^4,000,000. In 1861 and 1863
Commissions were appointed to inquire into the barrage
question, and in the latter year, because water was urgently
9o mougel’s barrages.
wanted, the barrage gates were closed with the view of holding
up about 4j feet of water ; as a result, cracks appeared in the
structure. In 1867 a section of 10 openings of the Rosetta
Barrage separated itself from the rest of the work, and moved
downstream. In 1871 Linant Bey reported that it would take
;
five years work and an expenditure of 25,000,000 francs to
make the barrage safe. In 1876 Sir John Fowler examined
the barrage, and proposed to remedy its defects for the sum of
;£i, 200,000 but as Isma‘11 Pasha had no faith in the barrage,
;
nothing came of the matter. In the same year General J. H.

Rundall, R.E., made a report on the barrage, and he estimated
that repairs would cost ^400,000, and the “ training of the
river ” and new gates another ^100,000. u
The manner of
restoring the barrage, as recommended by General Rundall, is
very nearly that which was actually adopted ; and, further, the
cost of the restoration was correctly estimated” (Major Brown,
Barrage ,
p. 24).
In 1883 Rousseau Pasha, Director of Public Works,
declared the only use of the barrage was to distribute the
river discharge between the two branches, and that to make
it even for this work would cost ^£400,000.
fit He was
in favour of pumps, and had recently signed a contract, which
was to last until 1915, with a company who undertook to
supply water to the Western Delta for ^50,000 a year, and it
was solemnly proposed to extend the system, and to irrigate
Lower Egypt by pumps at an initial cost of ^700,000, and an
annual outlay of ^248,550. The English authorities declined
to adopt this proposal, and directed Mr. (now Sir) W. Willcocks
to examine the barrage and to report upon it. In 1884 this
eminent expert was permitted to spend ^25,611 in providing
the Damietta Barrage with gates and in general repairs. In
June 1884, he was able to hold up water to a depth of
7 feet 2 inches in the Rosetta Barrage, and to a depth of
3 feet in the Damietta Barrage. The cotton crop that year
was 3,630,000 kantars, as against 3,186,060 kantars in 1879,
which was the greatest known crop before 1884. In 1885
about ^18,246 w ere spent on the barrage, and the results
T
were so successful that it was decided to restore the whole

work; the total sum spent in restoring both barrages was
^465,000, and the work lasted from 1886 to 1891. When
finished the barrage was able to hold up a head of about
13 feet of water, and it has been doing splendid work ever
since. The Rosetta Barrage has 61 arches and two locks and
—
THE MENUFIYAH REGULATOR. 91
is 465 metres long; the Damietta Barrage has 61 arches

(formerly 71) and two locks, and is 535 metres long. The two
barrages are separated by a revetment wall about 1,000 metres
long, and all the arches, except the two centre ones, are of
5 metres span. The following figures will show the increase

in the cotton crops from 1884 to 1894, which is directly due
to completion of the barrage :
Year. Kantars of Cotton. Year. Kantars of Cotton.

1884 3,630,000 1890 ... 4,150,000
1885 ... 2,900,000 1891 ... 4,765,000
1886 ... 2, 983, ooo 1892 5,220,000
1887 ... 2,965,000 1893 ... 5,033,000
1888 ... 2,720,000 1894 ... 4,615,000
1889 ... 3,240,000
Thus it will be seen that MougtTs Barrage was turned into
a success. It is evident that a great deal of the work which he
put into it was good, but it was his misfortune to have served
one impatient Viceroy, and to have been dismissed by his
successor. After his dismissal in 1854 it seems that things did
not prosper with him, for about the time of the restoration of
the barrage he was found at Rosetta totally unprovided for.
His case was brought before the Egyptian Government by Sir
Colin Scott-Moncrieff, and a pension was given him which
placed him beyond the reach of want.
It will be remembered that the Menufiyah regulator,
situated at the head of one of the most important canals in the
Nile Delta, collapsed suddenly one evening in December, 1909.
The regulator formed an integral part of the series of buildings
known as the Delta Barrage, and regulated the supply of
water, during both summer and flood, to the large and im-
portant district of the middle Delta. For this reason it was
essential that the structure should be replaced before the rise
of the Nile in August, if at all possible. Mr. Dupuis, Adviser
to the Public Works Department, decided on immediate re-
construction, and contracts were accordingly arranged, since
owing to extreme urgency it was not possible to call for tenders
in the usual way. It being necessary to give an- uninterrupted
supply of water through the fallen building, it was found
impossible to reconstruct the regulator on the old site. Con-
sequently a diversion of the canal of about half a mile in
length was entailed. The new site, situated in the gardens
lying between the fallen regulator and the Rosetta Barrage,
was cleared of its heavy timber, and excavation was begun on
92 THE BARRAGE AT ASYUT.
January 20. The final stone was laid on July 30. The
new regulatora bridge-like structure, consisting of nine
is
arches of 16 feet 6 inches span each, with a roadway on top

23 feet wide. The piers are 24 feet high from the floor on
which they rest and 6 feet 6 inches thick. There is a lock
on the eastern side for the accommodation of navigation, as
this canal is the principal artery for river traffic between Cairo
and Alexandria for a considerable period of the year. The
floor, on which the stability of such structures mainly depends,
is constructed of masonry in cement 10 feet thick and 130 feet
wide. Beyond this, there is a considerable width of stone

pitching to protect the natural bed of the river, which is flush
with the upper surface of the floor, from erosion. To prevent
infiltration of water under the floor it has been enclosed with
cast-iron sheet piles, driven to a point 13 feet 6 inches below
the bottom level. The diversion from end to end has been
dressed off and faced with stone to protect it against scour.
Very large volumes of material had to be handled in the con-
struction, there being about 700,000 cubic yards of excavation,
40,000 cubic yards of masonry, 42,000 cubic feet of ashlar,
and 27,000 cubic yards of stone pitching. The ironwork
employed included 720 t<ms of cast-iron piling, with 400 tons
for the sluices and lock gates. The structure is founded on a
bed of very fine sand and silt, excavated out to a depth of
47 feet. Owing to the numerous springs and the large
quantity of water to be dealt with, this entailed heavy pumping,
an average of ten 12-inch pumps being employed to get the
water down while the building was under construction.
The main contract was entrusted to the firm of Messrs.
John Aird and Company. The dredging contracts were let to
the Behera Company and the Egyptian Dredging Company,
and the sluice and lock gates were supplied and erected by
Messrs. Ransome and Rapier (Limited), of Ipswich and
London. The regulator has been designed and erected under
the supervision of Mr. M. Macdonald, the Director General
of Reservoirs in Egypt, assisted by Mr. R. G. Garrow. The
whole work has cost about ^135,000. ( Times July 27, 1910).
,
2. The Barrages south of Cairo. Barrage of

—
Asyut. The town of Asyfit is about 250 miles from Cairo
by river, and is the most important of all the towns of Upper
Egypt. The chief importance of the district lies in the fact
that it is the starting point of the great Ibrahimiyah Canal,
which is nearly 200 feet wide, and nearly 200 miles long,
THE BARRAGE AT ASYUT. 93
Civil
Proceedings,
of
Minutes
in
C.M.G.,
3,462.)
Asyut.
Stephens,
No.
at
H. Paper
G.
Barrage
by
Engineers,
The
Asyut,”
at
Nile
the
across
Barrage
“The
(From
-
94 THE BARRAGE AT ASYUT.
and supplies Middle Egypt and the Fayyum with water.

This canal carries enough water in flood-time for all pur-
poses, but when the Nile is low its supply is insufficient for
the irrigation of the lands on its banks. For many years
the irrigation experts declared the necessity of a barrage at
Asyut, and when it was decided to make a reservoir at Aswan,
it was felt that a barrage at Asyut must form part of the great
scheme. This barrage was planned by Sir W. Willcocks,

K.C.M.G., but the original proposal was considerably modified
by Sir Benjamin Baker, K.C.B., and by Sir W. Garstin,
G.C.M.G. Its duty is to hold up the river level during the
spring and summer months, when it is low, but when the
flood is a very low one, the barrage may be called upon to
raise the level then also, to insure the delivery into the canal
of its flood supply. The site chosen for the barrage is about
a mile from the town, where the river about 2,953 feet wide,
is
and to make adequate room for it was found necessary to

it
divert a short length of the Ibrahimiyah Canal. The highest

Nile level at Asyut, of which records are available, was 43 feet
7 inches above the deep channel, and the lowest 14 feet above
the bed in flood the velocity of the river is 4^ miles per hour,
;
and at low Nile 2 miles. The barrage at Asyut is an arched

viaduct, somewhat similar to that near Cairo, which has already
been described ; the width of the roadway over it is 182 feet
1 1 inches, and provision is made for wheeled traffic. It con-
tains hi openings, each of which is 16 feet 5 inches wide, and
has two sluice gates 8 feet 2 inches high the total length of
;
the barrage between the abutment faces is 2,691 feet. The

waterway between the piers is 1,821 feet wide, and superficial
area of flood waterway is 63,924 feet. The average summer
level of water downstream of the barrage is 148 feet 9 inches,
and upstream 157 feet, the difference between the levels being
8 feet 3 inches. The depth of the water held up by the
barrage is 8 feet 2 inches. The ordinary piers are 6 feet
7 inches wide, and the abutment piers, which occur after
every ninth opening, 13 feet 1^ inches. The height from
the floor of the barrage to the springing of the arches is
35 feet 1 inch, and to the roadway 41 feet. The Asytit
Barrage was built by Messrs. John Aird and Co., who entered
into an arrangement to construct : —
£
1. The Asw&n Dam and Lock for .... ... 1,400,000
2. The Asyut Dam and Lock for ... ... 425,000
3. The Ibrahimiyah Regulator and Lock foj 85,000
THE BARRAGE AT ESNA. 95
Land and subsidiary works were to cost ^49,000, and

customs duty on material and plant was calculated at ^41,000.
Messrs. John Aird signed the contract on February 20th, 1898,
and agreed to complete the works in five years from July 1st,
1898. The Egyptian Government were to pay nothing until
July 1 st, 1903, when they were to begin to pay a series of
half-yearly instalments of ^7 8,6 13. The subsidiary works in
the shape of canals and drains which it was necessary to make
in connection with the dams were estimated to cost 1,180, 000.
From Lord Cromer’s Report (April, 1904, p. 21) we see
that the accounts between Messrs. John Aird and the Egyptian
Government have been finally closed, and that the precise sum
paid for the Aswan Dam and the Asyut Barrage has been
jQE. 3, 439,864, including expropriation and indemnities
£E. 127,626, a lock £E. 47, 532, and minor works ^*E.6,oco.
The General Reserve Fund contributed Ê.1,346,699, the
Special Reserve Fund £E. 143, 165, and Ê. 1,950,000 was
paid to Messrs. Aird with certificates. “ Under the arrange-
ment negotiated with Sir Ernest Cassel, the Government in
order to redeem the money raised on the certificates, has to
pay 60 six-monthly instalments of ^76,648 each, the first of
which fell due on July 1st, 1903, while the last will fall due on
January 1st, 1933. In other words, the Government will pay
£E. 4, 598, 880 in interest and sinking fund before the certifi-
cates are fully redeemed.” With the view of deriving the fullest
possible benefit from the construction of the dams at Aswan
and Asyut it has been found necessary to convert a large tract
of land in Middle Egypt from basin to perennial irrigation;
the cost of converting 451,000 acres will be Ê.3, 200,000.
3. The Barrage at Esna. — The great Dam at Aswan and
the Asyut Barrage have already demonstrated the value of such
works in Egypt, and the formal opening by the Khedive on
February 9th of the Esna Barrage constituted an important
addition to these irrigation works. Esna, with 25,000 inhabi-
tants, is situated in Upper Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile,
and the work now completed will, even in the lowest of floods,
ensure a plentiful supply of water to a great tract of land in the
Nile valley from Esna northwards. The function of the Esna
Barrage is to hold up the water in low floods.
From the centre line of the lock to the east abutment the
length is 2,868 feet ; there are 120 openings, 16 feet 5 inches
wide ;
11 large abutment piers, 13 feet in thickness, all 37 feet
inches high, and 108 piers, 6 feet 6 inches in thickness.
8f
9<5 DETAILS OF THE ESNA BARRAGE.
The barrage carries a roadway 19 feet 8 inches wide, and a

tramway track runs along the whole length of the work,
including the swing bridge of the lock. The main contract
was in the hands of Messrs. John Aird and Co., and the
preliminary work itself was an extensive undertaking. Granite,
sandstone, and limestone quarries had to be opened up,
temporary roads laid, and at one time no less than 24 miles of
railway were in operation ;
tugs, barges, and a general flotilla
had to be requisitioned for river transport living quarters,
;
workshops, and a hospital erected, while the problems

surrounding a good water supply and proper sanitary arrange-
ments for a staff of from 8,000 to 10,000 hands had to be
solved.
Work on the foundations was started in November, 1906,
and the working areas from both east and west banks were
such that the foundations and the necessary superstructure
could be built above high flood level, so as to ensure
continuous work in the superstructure during flood time.
Meanwhile the ordinary traffic of the river had a fairway in
mid-stream. A large sand-bank having formed itself adjacent
to the east bank, it was a comparatively easy matter to take
out as much excavation as would ensure 37 piers being built,
while on the west bank it was deemed advisable to enclose as
much of the foundations as would take in the lock and 26 piers,
and both sides were completed in readiness to allow the flood
water to pass over the work at the end of the season. As the
foundations were built in wet running sand, cast-iron piles were
driven, enclosing the entire floor, the joints being grouted to
form an effective cut off, constituting a huge box inside which
the actual foundations were built. The portion of each pile
above foundation level was caulked with oakum, and the
entire joint made absolutely watertight. The weight of the
piles, which were cast by Messrs. Head, Wrightson, and
Company, was each about one ton, and two rows, 60 feet
9 inches apart, were driven parallel across the river. Puddle
clay topped with limestone pitching, 65 feet 7 inches wide,
has been employed on the upstream side to protect the
foundations from water percolation, while 131 feet 3 inches
of limestone pitching is laid on the downstream side,
forming an apron to resist the rush of water through the
sluices. The floor is composed of concrete, 3 feet 3§ inches
thick, on the top of which 6 feet 6f inches of granite rubble
masonry is built. The superstructure is built of sandstone.*
DETAILS OF THE ESNA BARRAGE. 97
The piers are rounded to a radius of half their thickness on

the upstream side, so as to form a cutwater, while the down-
stream ends are built square and have a batter of 15 per cent.
There are three parapet walls, and between the two upstream
parapets, over the gate grooves, winches to lift and lower the
gates will travel on flat-bottomed rails, laid on longitudinal
timbers fixed in the coping. There are two gates to each
opening, each 9 feet 10 inches deep, which work vertically in
grooves built in the pier. The lock is 262 feet 6 inches long
from sill to sill, and 52 feet 6 inches wide, the gates being
40 feet deep. The lock copings and steps are of granite.
The contract for the swing bridge over the lock, the lock
gates, and sluice gates was in the hands of Messrs. Ransomes
and Rapier, of Ipswich. After the floods of 1907 it was
found that the sand-bank on the east side of the river, referred
to above, still remained, and operations in line of the barrage
were commenced in November of that year, the excavation
being tipped into the river, at the same time forming tem-
porary sudds as the work advanced westwards. There was at
that time an intervening space of 1,280 feet between the two
foundation ends which remained to be built in, and although
work from the westward had to be carried on with extreme
caution, another 830 feet from the east bank was successfully
enclosed and the water pumped out. Gwynne’s centrifugal
pumps were used throughout. With the exception of a small
relief channel, the river was at the close of this work confined
to a space of 740 feet. This meant that the westward sudd
was subjected to a considerable rush of water, necessitating
the protection of the toe of the outside slope, and meanwhile
the work was pushed on with such speed that by the beginning
of February, 1908, the space between the foundation ends was
reduced to 450 feet. The most difficult part of the work
followed— the building of new sudds in the stream channel,
now greatly curtailed, with the view to forming a junction with
the dry built sudd on the west bank floor. To carry out this
work the river traffic was diverted through the lock, but it was
only after the expenditure of valuable time that the sudds were
finally joined, and but twelve weeks remained in which to build
in the remaining portion of the work before the river attained
the level of the temporary sudds. This was an anxious time,
but by concentrating labour on the foundations they were
finally joined up in May, 1908. The water was then allowed to
rise inside slowly enough to enable the pier masonry to be
G
—
98 THE ASWAN DAM.
carried up in advance. The been brought up

piers having all
to springing level, masonry and
in superstructure for arches
parapets went on continuously, and the work was actually
completed a year and a half within the contract time. It
should be pointed out that the scheme includes two small
accessory works in the form of canal head regulators, the one
for the Asfun canal, on the west bank, having five openings,
while the Kallabiyah canal regulator, on the east bank, has
four. In most particulars the design of these subsidiary works
follows that of the barrage itself, except that no piling was
deemed necessary. Mr. A. L. Webb, Adviser to the Ministry
of Public Works, is responsible for the design of the barrage,
Mr. E. H. Lloyd acting as resident engineer. The contractors
were represented in Egypt by Mr. H. McClure. The total
cost of the works is about 1,000,000. (Times, January 13,
1909.)
4. The Aswan Dam and Resei voir.— In the year 1890
the Egyptian Government instructed Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff
and Sir William Willcocks to study the question of making a
reservoir, and after three years’ labour the latter gentleman
reported that the best site for a reservoir was at the head of
the First Cataract, near Aswan, where he suggested that a
masonry dam should be built. Sir William Garstin concurred
in this view, but because of the magnitude of the work
suggested that a Commission should be appointed to advise
the Government. The Commission spent three months in
Egypt and examined all the proposed sites, and they decided
that Aswan was the best place for a reservoir-dam, but recom-
mended certain modifications, all of which tended to make
the design approach more closely to that of a solid dam, and
to increase its stability. As a result it was decided to build
a dam across the head of the Aswan Cataract, to the north of
the Island of Philae. The maximum head was to be 85 feet,
and the volume of water stored 88,300,000,000 cubic feet ; the
level of the water held up was to be 374 feet above the mean
level of the Mediterranean Sea. When the details of the
proposal became known, a great outcry was raised by the
principal archaeological societies of Europe, and a modified
plan was made, which enabled the level of the water held up
to be reduced to 348 feet above mean sea-level. When the
plans were passed in 1895 there was no money to be had for
such a great undertaking, and the beginning of -operations was
delayed until 1898. Early in that year Lord Cromer wrote :
THE ASWAN DAM. 99
“The most crying want of the country at present is an increase

in the water supply. . .All that can be done with the
.
present supply of Nile water has been already accomplished.”

As we have seen above, Messrs. Aird &
Co. agreed to con-
struct the reservoir-dam and the barrage at Asyfit for about
^2,000,000. The Egyptian Government were not required
to pay any money in cash, except as regards excess quantities
over the contract quantities, and Sir Ernest Cassel agreed to
take over the bonds, and to pay the contractors on the usual
monthly certificates ; bonds were issued for ^4, 7 16,780, and
repayment was to be made in 60 half-yearly instalments of
^7 8 .6i3-
The Dam crosses the valley in a straight line, passing over
the five summer channels of the river ; the valley is 2,185 yards
wide, and the dam is built on the coarse-grained red granite.
At flood-time the waterway is 1,530 yards wide, with a maxi-
mum depth of 56 feet. The dam is intended to hold up
water to the level of 348 feet the lowest level of water on the
;
downstream side is 282 feet, and the greatest head of water

will therefore be 66 feet. The storage capacity is estimated
at 37,612,000,000 cubic feet. No attempt is made to store
water until the river is practically free from silt, w hich occurs
T
about three months after the Nile is in full flood. Usually the
Nile reaches its maximum early in September, but the reservoir
is not filled before December-February ; the water is dis-
charged during the months of May, June, and July. The total
fall in water-level from Philae to Aswan is 16 feet 5 inches. The
mean low Nile at Philae is 295 feet above mean sea-level, and
the mean high 321 feet; between high and low Nile the river
rises 26 feet. The rise of the water upstream of the dam is
52^ feet above low Nile, and 26 feet 3 inches above high
Nile ; the effect of the reservoir is felt at a distance of 140 miles
south of the dam. The sluices are 180 in number, and they
are arranged at four different levels, viz., 328 feet, 315 feet,
3oif feet, and 287 feet; only 130 sluices are used for regu-
.
lating the discharge, and the remaining 50 are required for

giving sufficient waterway to the Nile- when in flood. About
July 5th all the sluices are open, and the Nile is rising
rapidly. At the end of July the discharge of the Nile is
159,000 cubic feet per second, and at the end of August the
discharge is nearly 353,000 cubic feet per second. On
December 1st the first of the 50 sliding gates at the level of
30 1 1 feet is lowered, and the remaining 49 soon after ; the
G 2
too THE ASWAN DAM.
65 gates with rollers at

the level of 287 feet are
Civil
gradually shut, and next

the 25 roller sluices are
lowered, and early in
February the sluices at Proceedings,
the level of 315 feet are

closed by degrees. By
the end of February the of
reservoir usually is filled,
and by July 7th it is
Minutes
empty. 1903.)
Work on the dam began the
in the summer of 1898, in

under the superintendence London,
of Mr. John A. C. Blue, Nile.
C.E., and Mr. M. Fitz-

Assuan,”
ii,
maurice, C.M.G., etc., and Low

Part
the foundation-stone was

Sluices,
laid by H.R.H. the Duke at
of Connaught on Feb- 1902-1903,
and
ruary 12th, 1899. All the Aswan
foundation work of the

dam was completed in at
Reservoir
Session
the summer of 1901, and

all the masonry was Dam
Nile clii,
finished June, 1902,
in
one year before the con- The
the vol.
tract time, and less than

On
three and a half years
“
after the first stone was Engineers,
laid. The contract quan-

Stokes,
tity of excavation in the

dam and locks was
and
408.000 cubic yards, and
the actual quantity exca-
vated was 824,000 cubic
Fitzmaurice
yards. The total contract

quantity of masonry was
484.000 cubic yards, and
the actual amount built (From
was 708,000 cubic yards.

In places the dam is over
THE ASWAN DAM. IOI
ioo feet high, and about

90 feet thick at the base.
G The actual cash cost of
the works came out to
nearly ^2,400,000, which
is practically ^10 for
every million gallons of
water held up. Sir W.
Garstin calculated that
the volume of water
capable of being stored
would be 1,065,000,000
cubic metres. While the
-> C3
-
H
O dam was being made it
a was necessary to cut a
canal for the passage of
large boats up and down
H
cd the river ; this canal was
rPn
cut through the granite
hill on the west side of
the Nile, and 26,000 cubic
yards of granite were
blasted away in its making.
The total length of the
canal is 2,180 yards ; it is
52 feet deep, and is 40
feet wide at the bottom.
Since there is a difference
of 66 feet between the
water levels up and down
stream, four locks are pro-
vided each lock is 263
:
J}3 feet long and 31 feet wide

at the bottom. The two
upper gates are 59 feet
deep, and weigh about
105 tons each, exclusive
of the bascule the three
;
other gates are 46, 36,

and 26 feet deep respec-
tively. When we consider
that through the Aswan
Dam and the Asyht
102 THE ASWAN DAM.
Barrage the annual wealth of the country will be increased by

about Ê. 2, 600,000, that the direct gain to the Government
will be about £E. 380, 000 a year, and that the value of the
Government lands which will be reclaimed will be increased by
more than Ê. 1,000,000, there can be no question about the
wisdom of the decision of the Egyptian Government to under-
take the works. And few will disagree with Lord Cromer’s
assertion that with the “ moderate expenditure of roughly
Ê. 3,500,000, more good has been done to the people of
Egypt than by the £E. 100,000,000 of debt which Ismail
Pasha contracted, and for the most part squandered.”
. As regards the results obtained by the construction of the
Asyfit Barrage and the Aswan Dam, the main facts are as
follows:— These two dams cost Ê. 3, 237,000. Up to the
end of 1904 a sum of £E. 1,757,000 had been spent in
subsidiary works in Middle Egypt, which must be constructed
before the full measure of beneficial result can be derived
from the construction of the dams. The total area so far
affected is about 1,276,000 acres. The increased annual
rental of these lands is estimated at about £E. 1,553,000 ;
their increased sale value at about Ê. 15,730,000. About

205.000 acres of land, formerly watered by the basin-irrigation
system, have been adapted to perennial irrigation. About
246.000 acres remain to be similarly treated. It was esti-
mated that the work of converting the remaining 246,000
acres would cost about Ê. 1,424,000, and that the work
w ould be completed in 1908. Thus, Sir William Garstin
r
says, “ From expenditure of some 6 —

\ millions by the
—
end of 1908 the annual rental value of the land affected
in Middle Egypt should be increased by £E. 2.637, 000,
and its sale value by ^£.26,570,000.” Lord Cromer
doubts if, in the records of engineering work, another
instance can be quoted of such results being achieved
with so relatively small an outlay of capital (Egypt, No. 1
(1906), p. 34).
In 1907 the Egyptian Government decided (on account of
the poor inundation, and the fact that 96,985 feddans of land
were wholly unwatered, and 15,400 were only partly watered)
to raise the Aswan Dam to a further height of 5 metres,
far the result of this would be to raise the water level in the
reservoir by metres, and more than double its storage
7
capacity. Theincreased water supply would, it was calculated,
permit 1,000,000 feddans in the Delta, then lying waste, to be
CONDITION OF THE PHILÊ TEMPLES. 103
irrigated. The design for the raising of the dam was the work
of the late Sir Benjamin Baker, and the contractors chosen
were Messrs. John Aird &
Co. and Messrs. Ransomes and
Rapier. Work was begun in May, 1907, and in 1907-8
Ê. 3 6 9, 000 was expended. In 1909 a further sum of
Ê. 1 76,000 was expended. The total cost of the work is
expected to be Ê. 1,500,000, and the raising of the dam will
be completed in 1912. The protective works carried out in
1904-6 are found to be efficient and satisfactory in every way.
The raising of the dam was postponed for a time, first, because it
was found necessary masonry apron down-

to construct a solid
stream of the dam sluices, in order to protect the rock from
the severe action of the water issuing through them ; and,
secondly, because certain mathematicians of great repute had
expressed doubts as to whether the calculations heretofore
adopted for determining the stresses and the stability of masonry
dams covered a sufficiently wade range, and whether the con-
sideration of certain important factors had not been neglected.
The masonry apron is finished, and the work of raising the
dam is now well advanced.
Here, naturally, reference must be made to the effect of the

Aswan Dam on the temples of the Island of Philae. When
the first scheme was proposed, it was at once seen that the
temple of Philae would be drowned during the filling of the
reservoir in the modified scheme the water was expected
;
only to reach the level of the floor of the temple. An exami-

nation by experts showed that a large portion of the main
temple was founded on the rock, and that the southern end of
the colonnade was built almost entirely on silt. At one side of
the colonnade the cross walls of a quay -wall had been carried
down to the rock, and the long row of pillars forming that side
of the colonnade was carried on sandstone sills, extending from
cross-wall to cross-wall. The sills were cracked and broken,
and many were supported only by the silt between the walls.
The ground between the walls was excavated, steel girders were
fixed below ground from quay-wall to quay-wall, and the steel
girders were then completely surrounded by cement masonry,
made watertight by forcing in cement grout. The other side of
the colonnade was underpinned in cement masonry, the under-
pinning in some cases being carried down to a depth of 25 or
30 feet from ground level ; Pharaoh’s Bed and many other
buildings were similarly treated. In nearly all places where
the underpinning was done, the superstructure of sandstone,
104 THE RAISING OF THE ASWAN DAM.
in some places 60 or 70 feet high, was in a very dilapidated

condition. The columns were out of the vertical, and the
sandstone lintels, weighing many tons, were often cracked right
through. The cost of these works was about ^22,000.
In the Journal de Geneve (December 17 th, 1903), M. Naville,
who speaks with unquestionable authority on this subject, bears
generous testimony to the archaeological value of the work
performed by the Egyptian Government, and says :
—
“ Je suis
de ceux qui, a plusieurs reprises, soit par la voie de la presse,
soit dans les Congres scientifiques, ont proteste contre la
constitution d’un barrage a Assouan. J’estime que les archeo-
logues ont bien d’etre satisfaits. Le monument est a l’abri
de toute degradation pour de longues annees, et il ne semble
pas que l’eau ait un effet facheux sur la pierre, sauf peut-etre
dans quelques chambres, qui, n’ayant d’autre ouverture qu’une
porte basse, conservent necessairement l’humidite et se
couvrent de salpetre. On peut meme se demander si, a
certains egards, le Temple de Phile n’est pas aujourd’hui
dans des conditions meilleures que la plupart des edifices
Egyptiens. Depuis plusieurs annees les grands temples passent
par ce qui j’appellerais une crise de faiblesse senile. ... A
Phile il serait arrive la meme chose qu’aux autres. Le temple
se serait degrade petit a petit ; on aurait vu tomber tantot une
colonne, tantot une architrave, et il aurait fallu attendre pour
le consolider d’avoir les ressources suffisantes. Maintenant
cela est fait, et pour longtemps, et tout en sachant gre au
Gouvernement Egyptien de 1’empressement qu’il a mis a

faire ce sacrifice pecuniaire, nous aimons a croire que nos
protestations n’ont pas ete sans influence sur sa decision.”
Professor Maspero says, “ L’lle de Philae continue a se bien
comporter, et tout danger immediat parait etre ecarte. Le sal-
petre se produit en quantite moins grande, et s’enleve plus
aisement que les premieres annees. Tout va bien de ce cote
pour le moment.”
Sir W.
Garstin has no doubt that the stability of the temples
of Philae has not suffered by their submersion, but he calls
attention to the band of saturated stone, from 2 feet to 2 feet
6 inches deep, which is immediately above the water line. In
this band salts deleterious to the masonry have made their
appearance. As regards the remedy for this evil, the general
opinion appears to be that the only one possible is to wash the
stone work thoroughly and carefully, as soon as the water has
subsided, thus getting rid of the salts. These are reported as
REPORT ON THE PHILyE TEMPLES. 105
coming away easily. In October, 1907, a Committee was

appointed by the Ministry of Public Works to report on the
structural stability of the temples at Philae, to study the salt
efflorescence and the discoloration of the walls, etc. This
Committee found in 1908 that “there was no evidence of their
“ stability having been in any way affected, or that any one of
“ them had moved since the underpinning operations in 1902.”
And they reported, “it may be confidently stated that, in con-
sequence of the work which was done in 1902 in under-
“ pinning and consolidating the temples and other structures
“ on Philae Island, these buildings are now far more safely
“ founded than they have ever been, except in the case of
“ those which were originally built on the granite rock, and
“ which, therefore, were never endangered that after five
;
“ submersions no damage from settlement has occurred, and
“ there is no sign of any movement except in the case of a
“ few steps and pavement slabs which are laid on loose filling,
“and even here the movement is slight and of no importance.
“ There is no temple in the Nile Valley at the present time
“ which is more secured against failure by settlement or by
“ collapse under any conditions, short of a violent earthquake,
“ than those on Philae Island. ” As regards the salt efflor-
escence, the Committee found that the “action is purely
“ mechanical, and in no way a chemically corrosive one,” and
their Summary stated —
1. Beyond the usual decay of old age
:
no special destruction of the Philae temples is taking place,

except a local disintegration immediately above high-water
mark. 2. This local disintegration, which is purely physical,
is confined to the surface layers of the stones. 3. This injury

will when the water level is raised,
cease at the present spots
but be transferred, though to a lessened extent, to fresh
will
places just above any temporary high-water level. 4. The
river water alone has no appreciable action, either erosive or
corrosive, upon the stone ; the wave action shows no sign,
either on the quay walls or on the buildings, of being effective.
5. The grey discoloration of the submerged stone is due to
minute filaments of dead algae ; these do no harm, but are
not readily removable. The experts employed to make the
examination of the buildings, chemical analyses, etc., were
Mr. E. T. Richmond, Mr. A. Lucas, F.I.C., and Captain
H. G. Lyons, R.E., the last named being also responsible for
the Committee’s Report.
io6
CHAPTER VIII.
The Ancient Egyptians.

All the evidence which is now available points to the fact
that the root-stock of the Egyptians, whose remains are many,
was African, and there is no doubt that African people, who
possessed many
of the fundamental characteristics of the
primitive Egyptians, have lived in the Valley of the Nile for
many thousands of years. The classical writer Diodorus
(iii, 3, adopted the view that the Egyptians sprang from
i, 2)
a colony of Ethiopians who had settled in Egypt, and that,
inasmuch as the soil of Egypt had been brought down by the
Nile, Egypt itself was a product of Ethiopia. It must be
remembered that the country called Ethiopia by Diodorus is
not Abyssinia. The ethnographical table given in Genesis x,6,
states that Mizraim, i.e., Egypt, was the son of Ham, and
that he was the brother of Cush, Phut, and Canaan, and as
the Hamites represent the fair African peoples, the author of
the ethnographical table and Diodorus agree. Cush is the
name usually given to Ethiopia, and it is possible that by
marriage at a very remote period the Egyptians became kins-
folk of the Ethiopians, but there are no grounds for the
assertion that the Egyptians had negro blood in their veins.
M. Maspero says that the bulk of the Egyptian population
presents the characteristics of the white races which have
been settled from all antiquity in the parts of the Libyan
continent which are on the shores of the Mediterranean,
that it originated in Africa itself, and that it made its way
into Egypt from the west or from the south-west. He further
suggests that when this people arrived in Egypt they may
have found there a black race, which they either destroyed
or drove out, and that they were subsequently added to in
number by Asiatics who were introduced through the Isthmus
of Suez, or through the marshes of the Delta. These new-
comers may also have entered Egypt by way of the Straits of
Bab al-Mandib. It is tolerably certain that at a very early period
the indigenous inhabitants of the Nile Valley were mingled with
the fair-skinned Libyans, whom some regard as Hamites, and it
seems that they led a purely pastoral life on the banks of the
Nile and in the neighbouring deserts. Their skulls were dolicho-
cephalic, or “ long-headed,” i,e., their diameter from side to
;
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 107
side bore a less proportion to the longitudinal diameter, i.e.,
that from front to back, than 8 to io hence they were, both

;
physically and mentally, entirely different from the Egyptians,

whose skulls in respect of measurements occupy a middle
position between the dolichocephalic and the brachycephalic,
or “ short-headed ” men. The hair of both sexes was short,
and the beards of the men were long and pointed, but turned
up at the points ; the faces of both men and women were
regular and oval in shape, and the lips projected but slightly.
The eyes of the men were almond-shaped and very broad,
and they were shaded with heavy-arched eyebrows ; the
figures of the women were comparatively slim, their thighs
were broad, and their feet of moderate size, with, in some
cases, a good instep. Both men and women seem to
have, had slightly sloping shoulders, and to have been a
little above the average height, and not of a heavy type in
their build. Besides these there must have been an element

in the population produced by marriage with the Negro and
Negroid tribes who lived a few degrees to the north of the
Equator. It must never be forgotten that the dynastic
Egyptians regarded Punt as their original home; and Punt
and the “ land of the spirits
99
were certainly situated some
hundreds of miles to the south of Khartum.
At some remote period, to which it is at present impossible
to assign a date, the Nile Valley was invaded by some people,
or group of peoples, belonging to a different race, who were
far more advanced on the ladder of civilization than the
Egyptians. The land from which they came was perhaps
Asia, and there is very good reason for believing that their
original home was the region which was called Babylonia in
later days. According to some they entered Egypt by way of
the Peninsula of Sinai and the Delta, and so made their way
up the Nile according to others, starting from some point in
;
Southern Arabia they crossed over by the Straits of Bab

al-Mandib to the African shore, which they followed north-
wards until they arrived at the entrance of the Wadi Ham-
mamat at Kuser, which they entered, and after a few days’
march arrived in Egypt near the ancient city of Coptos
according to a third opinion they entered Egypt from some
country to the south-east, or even south, of Egypt, and made
their way down the Nile. For the view which made the
invaders enter Egypt by the Wadi Hammamat there is much
to be said. The newcomers brought with them the arts of
—
io8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
agriculture, and introduced wheat and barley into Egypt;

the art of brickmaking, the art of writing, the art of working
in metals, and among other domestic animals they introduced
the sheep into Egypt. The manners and customs of the
indigenous inhabitants of Egypt must have been profoundly
modified by the invaders, and we may note in passing that,
after their arrival, the Egyptians as a nation seem to have
abandoned the practice of burying their dead in a semi-
embryonic position, and to have buried them lying on their
backs at full length. As time goes on it becomes more and
more clear that many of the most important, but later, elements
of Egyptian culture were brought into Egypt by a people who
were not remotely connected with some of the ancient dwellers
in Babylonia.
The above remarks will show the reader how very little
definite information exists concerning the origin of both the
pre-dynastic and dynastic Egyptians. Some reading the facts
of archaeology, or philology, in one way arrive at one con-
clusion, and others reading the same facts in another way
arrive at another conclusion, and others again by mixing up
theories with facts produce results totally different from those
of their fellow workers. Had we all the facts it would be
comparatively simple to write out a statement about the origin
of the Egyptians which would satisfy all enquirers, but the
truth is we have not got them. In recent years attempts have
been made to settle the question by means of craniological
measurements and by anthropometry, but here again authorities
differ, and the non-expert does not know what to believe, or
whose statements to accept. The Egyptologist is as helpless
in such a case as the non-Egyptologist. Professor G. Elliot
Smith has formulated a theory based on a large number of
facts derived from deep study and examination of human
remains from many places in the Nile Valley, and his views
about the ancient Egyptians as given in a paper read before
the British Association in September, 1910, are as follows :
“ In the present state of our knowledge it would be idle to

“ discuss the origin of the pre-dynastic Egyptian population
“ beyond stating that the people showed undoubted affinities
“ with the so-called Mediterranean Race as well as with the
‘ ’
“ Arabs, and that they must have been settled in the Nile valley
“ for many ages before they constructed the earliest prehistoric
u graves known
to us, for their peculiarly distinctive culture,
“ their arts, their mode of writing, and their religion were
;:
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. I09
“ certainly evolved in Egypt. But even before the end of the

“ pre-dynastic period a slight change in the physical traits of the
“ population could be detected ; although it was not until
u more than
four centuries later, t.e. 9 until the time of the
“ Third Dynasty, that the modification of the physical type
“ became sufficiently pronounced to afford unmistakable evi-
“ dence of its significance. For then the three Nile territories
“ under consideration had each its own distinctive people
“ Lower Nubia, a population essentially identical with the
“ pre-dynastic Egyptian, but slightly tinctured with negro
“ Lower Egypt, the descendants of the pre-dynastic Egyptians,
“ profoundly modified by admixture with alien white immi-
“ grants, who entered the Nile valley via the Delta ; and Upper
“ Egypt, protected by its geographical position from the direct
“ effect of either of these foreign influences, was being subjected
“to the indirect influence of both by the intermingling of its
“ people with those of Nubia and Northern Egypt. In the
“ time of the Middle Kingdom this double racial influence
“ became much more pronounced in the Thebaid. The
“ Nubian element also became more significant, the influx
“ consisting at various times of slaves, mercenaries, and perhaps
“also invaders, not to mention the slow but steady percolation
“ into Egypt of a negroid element resulting from the secular
“ intermingling of neighbouring peoples. Thus began that
“ graduation of racial characters in the Nile valley, ranging from
“ the Levantine white population of Alexandria to the negro of
“ the Sfidan, which had persisted until the present day, and was
“ displayed even in the measurements of 30,000 modern
“ Egyptian men, which were now being examined by Mr.
J. L.
“ Craig. It was not yet possible to express a positive opinion
“ as to the source of the white immigration into the Delta,
“ which first reached significant proportions in the times of the
“ Third and Fourth Dynasties but, from evidence which had
;
“ been recently collected, it seemed probable that the bulk of
“ it came from the Levant. It is most likely, however, that
“ there was a steady influx into the Delta of people coming
“ both from east and west, and that their percolation into Egypt
“ was so gradual as not to violently disturb the even flow of the
“ evolution of the distinctive Egyptian civilization. Neverthe-
less, it is perhaps not without significance, especially when
“ we take into account the simple-minded, unprogressive, and
“ extremely conservative character of the real Egyptian, to note
“ that none of the greatest monuments were constructed nor
no EARLY INVASION OF THE NILE VALLEY.
“ the most noteworthy advances made in the arts of the

“ Egyptian civilization, except on the initiative of an aristocracy,
“ in the composition of which there was a considerable infusion
“of non-Egyptian blood. From the times of the Pyramid
“ builders until the present day Egypt’s rulers have probably
“ never been of undiluted Egyptian origin.”
The language which was spoken by the invaders belonged
to the Proto-Semitic group, and was different from that of the
Egyptians and from the languages of many of the Hamitic and
Libyan peoples ; some think that the Proto-Semitic group of
languages and Egyptian are descended from a common stock.
Looking back on the history of Egypt we can see that no
nation has seen so many vicissitudes of fortune, or been
the object of invasion by so many enemies. The geographical
situation of the country renders her position among nations
unique. She lies open and unprotected to the dwellers in the
desert on both sides of the Nile, the whole of her length, and
her fertile soil has always been a great attraction both to
pastoral and agricultural tribes. From the earliest times
the desert tribes must have raided the country, especially
the Delta, with considerable success, and cattle and grain
were no doubt carried off in abundance. What the earliest
dweller on the Nile was like we have no means of knowing,
but if we may judge by the long series of pictures of dynastic
Egyptians which adorn the walls of tombs that cover a period
of nearly 3,500 years, he was very much like what the
fellah, or peasant farmer, is to-day. The colour of his skin
was dark red or a reddish-brown, his eyes were slightly
oblique, his hair was dark and thin, his body was slender, his
legs thin, and his feet long ; the skin of his womankind had
a dark yellowish tinge in it, probably because their bodies were
not so much exposed to the sun. The nations which have
conquered himself and his land have produced no perma-
nent modification in his physique, a fact which the traveller
can easily verify for himself ; on the other hand, those who
have attempted to settle in his country have either been
eliminated by the inexorable climatic and other influences, or
have become absorbed into the native population. The Egyptian
of the soil is practically unchangeable physically, and it is not
too much to say that mentally and intellectually he remains
the same as he was 7,000 years ago. It was probably only a
comparatively limited upper class, containing foreign elements,
which made the Egyptians celebrated for their learning. That
THE EGYPTIAN PEASANT UNCHANGEABLE. Ill
this upper class had very little influence on the general popula-
tion of the country is evident from many things, and it is
certain that, to all intents and purposes, the conquering
element and the conquered had extremely little in common.
The peasant and their labourers in the fields lived
proprietors
in precisely same way as their ancestors from time
the
immemorial their manners and customs were the same, and
;
their religious beliefs were identical. Their conquerors changed

the names of some of the old gods of the country, but they
never succeeded in altering the people’s conceptions of the
celestial powers and their attributes. There is good reason
for believing that many of the manners and customs of the
primitive Egyptians were identical with those of the primitive
population which extended down the Nile from Central Africa.
Many of the religious beliefs and ceremonies which are made
known to us by the hieroglyphic texts have their equivalents
among the A-Zande, or Niam Niams, and the Bantu and Fanti
tribes at the present day, and it seems certain that these
were developed by the Dynastic Egyptians from the earlier
inhabitants of the Nile Valley. All the facts available suggest
that the inhabitants of the Nile Valley as a whole have never
changed the fundamentals of their religion, and that, sub-
stantially, they believe now what they believed 6,000 years ago.
The outward expressions of these beliefs are different in
different places, but among all the main Sudani peoples and
tribes the doctrines about the Creator and creation, and about
good and evil spirits, the soul, death, and the future life, and
the cult of the divine ancestor, are the same. Solar cults were
introduced into Egypt by its conquerors, and were practised
for many centuries (principally by kings, priests, and the
aristocracy), but they never appealed to the great mass of the
population, and in the minds of the people they occupied a
position subordinate to those of the truly indigenous cults.
I 12
CHAPTER IX.
The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians.

The earliest proof that the Egyptians possessed religious
beliefs isafforded by the pre-dynastic graves which have been
excavated at Gebelen, Nakadah, Abydos, and other sites during
the last 17 years. In these, in addition to the human remains
which were deposited in them either as whole or disjointed
bodies, have been found jars and vases containing substances
which were intended to serve as food for the deceased on his
journey to some place of abode beyond the grave, and weapons
of flint wherewith he might defend himself against the foes of
various kinds which he was expected to meet on the road
thither. Thus it is clear that the pre = dynastic Egyptians
believed that a man would enjoy life in some form, and in some
place to reach which they did their utmost to provide him with
means ; it is probable that they considered such a life to be
merely a prolongation or renewal of the life which a man led
upon earth, and that they imagined it would include joys and
pleasures, perhaps also rewards, of a material character. Where,
however, that life was lived, or the manner of region in which
it was lived, we have no means of knowing, and whether this
life after death was everlasting or not we know not. We may,

however, assume that the beliefs of the primitive Egyptians
resembled those of some of the peoples and tribes of the north-
east quarter of Africa, who live under the same conditions as
they lived, and on land which is similar to theirs. Speaking
generally, it seems that the primitive Egyptians peopled earth,
air, river, and sky with spirits or beings, some of which were
benevolent and some malevolent, and that to these they
attributed various degrees of power. The greater number
of such beings were probably regarded by them as being of a
nature like unto themselves ; and there was perhaps a time
when the Egyptians did not believe in the existence of any
beings who were different from themselves.
What is known of the religion of Egypt in dynastic
times suggests that in the earliest period of its history each
community possessed its own supernatural being or spirit, who
had his own peculiar form, and his own special manner of
making himself manifest, and it is pretty certain that the views
which the bulk of the community held concerning him dictated
EGYPTIAN RELIGION. IT 3
the ceremonies which, it was believed, would conciliate it or

procure its aid. In connection with this period in the history
of Egyptian religion it is important to state that many of the
spirits which were adored at that time became gods subsequently,
and continued to be the objects of worship of the dynastic
Egyptians, and that many of the ceremonies connected with
their service were celebrated for some thousands of years,
though in some cases variations were made in details.
Besides all these beings, the Egyptians believed in the
existence of One Great and Almighty God, Who created the
world and everything in it. They seem to have thought, just as
modern African tribes think, that He was too exalted to concern
Himself with the affairs of men and the governance of this
world, and therefore He committed all such things to a large
number of spirits, or “gods,” some of whom were benevolent,
and some malevolent. Both classes of “ gods ” could be
propitiated with offerings, and hence arose the worship by
means of offerings which plays such a prominent part in the
Egyptian religion.
In primitive times it was believed that spirits manifested
themselves in birds, animals, reptiles, trees, stones, etc., and
that under certain circumstances they had the power of
speaking in human language. Certain spirits attached them-
selves to certain animals, either temporarily or permanently, and
many animals, e.g., the lion, jackal, bull, ram, were held to
be abodes of spirits or supernatural powers by the dynastic
Egyptians, and by the later inhabitants of the country.
Besides living creatures, the primitive Egyptians adored various
objects to which it is customary to give the name of fetishes ;*
among these may be mentioned the Tet, which is a
modification of the sign placed upon a pillar, or pedestal,
and represents nothing more nor less than a portion of the
back of Osiris. The setting up of upon a pillar symbolized
* Fromthe Portuguese feitô “ sorcery, witchcraft.” The word was

firstapplied by the Portuguese sailors and traders to objects worshipped by
the natives, which were regarded as charms or talismans. A fetish was
supposed to have a spirit embodied in it, which acted through it, and held
communication with it. It was treated as if it possessed personal
consciousness and power, was talked with, worshipped, prayed to,
sacrificed to, and petted or ill-treated with reference to its past or future
behaviour to its votaries. E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture , vol. ii, p. 133.
H
114 GODS IN ANIMAL FORMS.
the resurrection, and an amulet so shaped, or even a picture of

it, gave to the wearer the gift of “ renewed life.” Another
interesting “fetish” is the

j~|
or so-called “buckle of Isis.”
This object was, however, no buckle, but a portion of the body

of Isis, which contained her life blood. An amulet so shaped,
and made of red stone, or even a picture of it, gave to the
wearer the magical power of the blood of the goddess. Both
these objects were in some way intimately connected with the
history of Osiris, and as such they played prominent paits in
his worship at all periods ; but it is pretty certain that the true
history of their connection with the god was forgotten at a very
early period, especially as the pictorial representations of them
could not, in the first instance, have been very faithful.
At the time when the Egyptians were worshipping spirits
they probably adored the great powers of nature, and the sun,
moon, and stars, light, darkness, etc., and they thought that the
spirits of these could dwell in birds, animals, snakes, and other
creatures. Every village community possessed its local spirit,
and, in later days, every town and city had its own group of
spirits, or “ gods ” as we may call them, among which were
included the great spirits or great gods who were worshipped
throughout the country. Such spirits and gods shared the
good or evil fortune of the community to which they belonged.
Their emblems or symbols were carried out to war, special
habitations were set apart for them, and their upkeep was
provided for out of common funds. As the riches of the
community increased, the rank and dignity of its god kept
pace with them, but his revenues suffered in times of scarcity,
defeat, and war ; the gods and their emblems might even be
carried off into captivity and burnt, when, of course, the spirits
or gods suffered defeat and death like their votaries. The
number of such spirits or “gods” was very considerable in
early times, and even in the dynastic period the “gods ” could
be counted by hundreds. The reduction in the number of
spirits began when man realized that certain of them were
mightier than others, and the same may be said of the “gods.”
As man developed his conception of his “spirit,” or “god,”
developed also, and a time came when he decided to represent
his object of fear or worship in human form. The god who is
always represented in human form is Tem, or Atmu, and it

seems as if he were the product of a higher form of religious
thought than that which existed among the purely African
GROUPS OF GODS AND TRINITIES. ”5
peoples. To a great many of the gods of the pre-dynastic
Egyptians human bodies were given in pictures of them, and it
is possible that this custom may be the result of a transition
period in religious development when man began to be tired of

or dissatisfied with gods in wholly animal forms. Thus we
have a hawk-headed man for Ra and other solar gods, a jackal-
headed man for Anubis, a crocodile-headed man for Sebek, a
beetle-headed man for Khepera; Osiris the deified dead
ancestor as depicted in the form of a swathed, mummied form.
The pictorial representations of such gods usually give to
the gods a long, plaited beard and a long, animal tail ; they
carried a staff of authority in one hand, and in the other the
symbol i.e., “life,” which is the special emblem or

attribute of divinity. Goddesses also are represented in forms
which are part human and part animal or reptile, and all deities
were believed to have the power of assuming at pleasure
the bird, or animal, or reptile form under which they
were supposed to have appeared in primitive times. Thus
Ra could become a hawk, Isis and Nephthys could become
vultures, Serqet could become a scorpion, powers of evil
could become snakes, and so on. This idea was so per-
sistent in later periods that provision was made for enabling
the dead man, who had become master of life after death,
who had become a god, to take the form of birds, of the
crocodile and serpent, of the lotus, and of certain gods at
will. There is no evidence available which would justify us
in asserting at exactly what period it became customary to
represent the gods in forms which were half human and half
animal ; but it may have come about as a result of the higher
class of civilization which was brought into Egypt by those
who taught the Egyptians how to make bricks, and to grow
wheat and barley. The important fact to note is that when
the change took place one class at least of the Egyptians had
advanced from the worship of spirits, fiends, demons, etc., to
the cult of animals, and from the cult of animals to the
adoration of the man-god, both living and dead. Thus they
made their gods in the image of themselves, and they assigned
to them wives and offspring, and then proceeded to invent
stories about their lives and deeds. Examples of Iliads, or
trinities, are :
—
Tern + Shu + Tefnut, i.e father, son and
.,
daughter; the trinity of Memphis, Ptah + Sekhet -f Nefer=

Tern, i.e., father, mother and son the trinity of Busiris,
;
H 2
1 16 THE CREATION.
Osiris + Isis + Homs ;

the trinity of Thebes, Amen-Ra +
Mitt + Khensu, etc.
The common word for god is neter, the exact

meaning of which was lost at a very early period ;
the plural is
neteru, ^ The common word for “goddess 77
V
jfy I. is
I
4
NETERT, with its plural, neterit, *

l
•
-
.
i.
When the Egyptians wished to speak of the whole of the gods
they used the words pant neteru i.e., the “divine matter/ but
,
7
as under the Ancient Empire it was customary at Heliopolis to

enumerate nine gods, these words gradually assumed the
meaning of something like “the company of nine gods. 77
These nine gods were, Temu or Atmu, Shu and Tefnut, Keb
and Nut, Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. Now, as the
Egyptians regarded the sky, earth, and underworld as three
distinct realms, they invented a company of gods for each ;
each company might contain as many as 14 or as few as five

gods, and thus it happens that the three companies comprised
all the principal gods of Egypt.
About the abode of the gods various views existed.
According to one opinion heaven was situated above the sky, and
was separated from the earth by a rectangular alabaster slab,
and the stars were thought to be lamps which were suspended
from holes drilled in the plate and according to another, the
:
abode of the blessed was in the Delta, or in one of the

Oases. One legend made the heavens in the form of a
cow, and another in the form of a woman, whose body formed
the canopy of the sky the legs of the cow in the one legend,
;
and the arms and legs of the woman in the other, formed the
cardinal points. The first act in the history of creation was
the rising of the sun ; this was brought about by an act of
will on the part of the god Khepera, and when this had been
done the god created Shu and Tefnut, who in turn produced
a number of gods, and finally men and women came into being
from the tears which dropped from Khepera’s eyes upon his
own members. Khepera, Shu, and Tefnut formed the first
triad of gods, according to a very old legend. Another
legend represents the sun -god Ra as being angry with mankind
because they were mocking him and scoffing at his age, and
* In the Book of Gates neterit is, in one place, used as a term of
contempt, and is applied to what we should call “ false gods.”
THE PRIESTS OF AMEN RA. 1
1?
in his wrath he caused many of them to be destroyed. Of all

legends, however, the most important and widespread is that
of Osiris, the king of the underworld and judge of the dead.
This god, who lived at one time on earth in human form, was
murdered by Set, the god of evil and the equivalent of the
Devil of modern nations, who hacked in pieces the body of
Osiris. Isis, the wife of Osiris, collected the pieces and
reunited them, and vengeance was taken on Set by Homs,
son of Osiris and Isis, who, according to one legend, was
begotten by Osiris after death through the incantation of Isis.
Osiris became the god of the underworld and judge of the
dead, through the incantations of Isis and the magical cere-
monies which were performed by Horus and certain assistants.
About 3600 b.c. the priests of Northern Egypt succeeded
in making a very ancient god called Ra, who was a form of
the Sun-god, the head of the deities of Egypt. This god was
supposed to represent all the old solar gods of the country,
who were now regarded merely as subsidiary forms of him ;
with Ra were associated a number of triads from the chief

cities of the Delta, e.g., Sals and Bubastis, and the triad of
Memphis, and in this way all the gods and goddesses of the
pre-dynastic and archaic periods were brought under the sway
of Ra. The priests of Ra appear to have been very tolerant,
and so long as the supremacy of their god was acknowleged
they were content to allow the older cults of animals, etc., to
flourish. In the Delta two very ancient goddesses were
Neith of Sais and Bast of Bubastis; the former was said to
be self-created and to have begotten and conceived her son,
the Sun-god. Among the epithets applied to her are those of
“eternal” and “self-existent.” About 2500 b.c., Amen, a
local god of Thebes, became important among the gods of
Egypt, for the princes of Thebes were becoming the dominant
power in the country the power of Memphis and Heliopolis
:
had been broken, and the princes of Herakleopolis had been

defeated by the Theban hosts. Amen is, however, a very
old god, and the recent discoveries made by M. Legrain at
Thebes prove that a sanctuary of Amen was in existence in
this city under the early dynasties of Egyptian kings. Amen
is probably one of the oldest indigenous gods of Upper Egypt.
About T500 b.c. the renown of ivmen was very great, for he
was by this time identified with all the great gods of the land :
as Ra absorbed all the deities of the primitive Egyptians, so

did Amen absorb Ra and his company. In fact, the old gods
Il8 THE JUDGMENT AND IMMORTALITY.
of Egypt were declared to be merely forms of Amen, the

“ king of the gods/ and his priests declared that only kings
7
who had the blood of Amen in their veins could reign.

The priestly hierarchy of Amen-Ra was the most powerful
which was ever formed in Egypt, and its influence was
sufficiently strong to resist successfully the attack made
upon it by Amen-hetep IV, who called himself Khu-en-Aten,
and tried to restore the worship of the Sun-god Aten, in
the form in which it was celebrated in connection with
Ra of Heliopolis. The priests of Amen usurped the supreme
power about 1000 b c ., and their arrogance alienated the people
.
of Upper Egypt, and finally they fled from Thebes to Napata

in Nubia. Under the XVXIIth dynasty the hymns addressed
to Amen-Ra contain attributes and titles which belong to a
number of other gods, and he is addressed in terms which
prove that his devotees believed him to be God, Who made
Himself manifest in the form of His creature, the Sun. Under
the influence of the priests of Amen-Ra a form of belief was
developed which was different in many ways from that of the
priests of Heliopolis, but the fundamental characteristics of
the indigenous religion of Egypt were always prominent. It
must, however, always be remembered that the religion of the
people was invariably less spiritual than that of the thinking,
well-educated priests. In the troubled times which followed
the end of the reign of Rameses II, about 1280 b c ., great
.
confusion existed in the religion of the people, and the true

attributes of many gods were either confounded in their minds
or forgotten by them. Under the influence of political events
foreign gods were introduced into Egypt, and the religious
tolerance of the people being great, no serious opposition was
offered to their worship. Under the Ptolemies the gods of the
company of Osiris were greatly honoured, and with the excep-
tion of Serapis, no new gods of importance were introduced ;
Osiris, Isis, and Horus were the leading deities of the land.
Reference must now be made to the Egyptian belief in
immortality, and to the views which they held concerning
heaven and hell. The texts which have come down to us are
full of difficulty and contradiction, and it is clear that many
opinions existed on these subjects which we can never hope to
reconcile. It is, however, quite certain that the Egyptians of
all periods believed in a future life. In the earliest times they
believed that future bliss could be obtained by the use of
magical names and words of power.
THE UNDERWORLD. II 9
Under the Vth Dynasty the passport to the kingdom of

heaven was moral worth. A righteous life in this world was
all-important, and the worship of God and of His representa-
tive the king, and the showing of kindness to one’s family and
neighbour, were demanded by Osiris from all those who would
enter heaven and live with him. Whatever was thought about
faith, works were all-essential. Repentance, or remorse for
evil deeds committed, was unknown. The god her-f-ha-f,
the Egyptian Charon, would ferry no
soul from this world to the next unless he was assured that
it had moral worth on which to base its claim to heaven.
Under the XVJlIth Dynasty they thought that the style and
duration of their future life depended upon the manner of life
which men had led on earth. The man who had made offerings
to Ra or Osiris on earth benefited by these pious acts in the life
beyond the grave, and these gods preserved in happiness the
men who had honoured them upon earth. The Egyptians
believed in the Judgment, and seem to have thought that it
took place immediately after death. The dead of each district
went to that portion of the Underworld which belonged to their
district, whence they passed to the kingdom of Osiris, In
dynastic times the Judgment was held in the Hall of Kaaf, where
each of the Forty-two Judges received the assurance of the
deceased that he had not committed a certain sin. The heart
was weighed in a pair of scales against a feather symbol of
righteousness, under the supervision of Thoth, the scribe of
the gods, and of Anubis, the god of the dead. The heart
was expected to balance the feather exactly ; it was not required
to outweigh it. Justice only demanded that the beam of the
scales should be perfectly level. To be “ righteous overmuch ”
was to incur the displeasure of the gods. If the result of the
weighing of the heart was satisfactory, the deceased passed on
through the Hall and paid adoration to Osiris, who permitted
him to enter the Fields of Aaru if it were not, his heart was
;
given to Amemit, the Eater of the dead, who devoured it.

In the fields of Aaru a portion of ground was measured out
for the deceased, its size varying according to his merits.
Here he tilled the ground and tended the wonderful wheat of
that region, which was a form of Osiris ; and he lived upon
that wheat, i.e., upon the god himself.
Another view maintained that the souls of the blessed
;
120 THE UNDERWORLD.
entered the boat of the sun, and lived with Ra for ever, and
that the wicked, which included idolaters and apostates, and
all the powers of darkness which tried to bar the path of the
Sun-god, were mutilated with knives or destroyed by fire each

day between midnight and sunrise. The blessed lived in a
state of divine bliss for ever, and the belief which seems to
have been the most widespread in Egypt assigned to each
man his own homestead in the Elysian Fields, where he would
live with his parents and enjoy all the comforts of a well stocked
farm in a fertile country. This belief is clearly the product
of the time when the Egyptians became an agricultural people,
and it was only under the influence of the priests of the various
forms of the Sun-god that they adopted the belief that the
blessed became beings of light and lived in the boat of the
Sun-god.
The name for the Underworld was Tuat, and
it was supposed to be a region which ran parallel with Egypt

it was a rocky valley with a stream flowing the whole length
of it, as the Nile flows through Egypt, and it was divided into
ten main sections, with two smaller divisions, one at each end,
which served, if we may use the word, as ante-chambers.
When the sun set he was believed to pass in his boat from
this world into Amentet, the ante-chamber of the Tuat, and
then to journey through the various sections of the Tuat at the
rate of one per hour. At the entrance to each section was a
massive gate, which his words of power enabled him to enter.
As the god passed through each section the blessed were
arranged on his right hand, and the wicked on the left, and he
saluted both in turn, and uttered the word of power which
provided the continuance of the happiness of the former, and
the misery of the latter. On his way the Sun-god overtook
the souls who had set out for the realm of Osiris, but who
for some reason or other had failed to get there those who
;
were fortunate enough to possess amulets, words of power, etc.,

embarked in the boat of the Sun, and went with the god to the
Kingdom of Osiris, which was reached about midnight.
According to the views of the priests of Amen, the Judgment
took place at midnight, and all rewards and punishments wore
meted out before the breaking of a new day. As the enemies
of the Sun-god who came into being during the course of the
day wore destroyed before the day was ended, this disposes of
che idea of some that the Egyptians believed in purgatory.
—
THE RESURRECTION. I 2 I
As soon as the Judgment is ended, the boat of the Sun

continues its course, and eventually, having passed through
all the sections of the Tuat and its Twelve Divisions, it
goes out from the gloom of the Underworld, and glides

on to the waters of the celestial ocean called Nut, and
so rises on this world. The souls who have been fortunate
enough to sail with the god so far are now able to see this
earth, and they can fly down to it and visit their old haunts
at pleasure.
Now, although the Egyptians firmly believed in the mightiness
of the power of their gods, Osiris and Ra, they were also firmly
convinced that they were able to assist in securing their own
future life by performing certain things. The most important
of all was to mummify the body, for it is clear beyond all
doubt that in the earliest times they thought that the life of the
soul depended in some way upon the preservation of the
material body. There were some, no doubt, who believed in
the Resurrection of the material body, and who mummified
the body for this reason ; and others, apparently a very large
”
class, thought that the “ spiritual body sprang directly from
it through the prayers which were said and the ceremonies
which were performed when the mummy was placed in the
tomb. The earliest religious texts prove that Egyptian
theologians distinguished in the economy of man :
The Khat The Ab

or the material, or heart.
corruptible body.
6 The Sekhem
The Ka
or double.
u .
or vital power.
The Khaibit The Khu

or shadow. or spirit-soul.
The Ba The Ren

or heart-soul. or name.
or the “ s P iritual bod y»” which,
o. The Sah fl a ? ’
’
I X/T7) in the case of the blessed,
came into being after death, and contained
all the
mental, intellectual, and spiritual properties of a man.
The ka, or “ double ” of a man, lived with his body in the
tomb, a chamber of which was specially set apart for it this
;
chamber was connected with the hall of the tomb by means of

a narrow passage, through which the ka was enabled to smell
the odours of the incense, etc., which was offered up in the
122 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BELIEFS.
tomb at stated intervals by the descendants and friends of the

deceased. The ka lived on the spirits of the offerings which were
made in the tomb, and if these failed it was believed it would
wander about in the desert and eat whatever offal it might find
there, and drink dirty water. To avoid such a calamity wealthy
people had cisterns of water placed by their tombs, and round
about these trees were planted ; thus the soul, when it visited
its former body, found a comfortable and shady place on which
to rest and clean water to drink, and the ka had water always
available for its needs. The form of the ka was that of the
man to whom it belonged, and it seems to have been an
immaterial, shadowy being, who was, however, supposed to be
gratified with the sight of, or pictures of, or phantoms of
material food, or perhaps with the smell of actual food. The
ba, or heart-soul, appeared in the form of a human-headed
The khu, or spirit-soul, appeared in the form cf a
Next in importance to the preservation of the body

was the preservation of the man’s name, for if this were de-
stroyed or forgotten he lost his identity, and it seems that at one
period it was thought that the destruction of a man’s name
involved the destruction of his whole being. To introduce a
nameless man to Ra or Osiris in heaven was impossible. The
name of the deceased is always mentioned several times on his
tomb and coffin and papyrus (when there is one), and it occurs
prominently on every article of his funeral furniture. The
various portions of man’s material and spiritual bodies mentioned
above represent different phases of psychological belief, and
probably belong to different periods in the development of the
Egyptians ; but they were never forgotten by the people, and
they appear in religious texts which were written centuries after
belief in many of them had become very vague. As a whole
the Egyptians were extremely religious, but they never troubled
themselves with abstruse philosophical questions concerning
their beliefs like many peoples of antiquity, for so to do was
foreign to their nature and disposition, and they were probably
incapable of it. They devoted most of their energies to the
building of tombs to hold their own bodies, and to the worship
of their ancestors ; they called their tombs “ houses of eternity,”
and thpy }eft nothing undone which would enable them to rise
again and to enjoy immortality. A moment’s consideration
will show that only the rich could indulge in costly tombs and
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BELIEFS, 123
tomb furniture, and expensive mummification, but the poorest

men hoped to enter the kingdom of Osiris and to partake of
everlasting life, for the priests worked out means whereby they
could safely dispense with the pomps and ceremonies which
attended the burial of the rich. The righteous man, rich or
poor, who was provided with words of power, could make
himself independent of the ordinary limits of time and space,
and obtain everything he wanted. The following extracts
from Chapter CXXVI of the Book of the Dead illustrate the
prayers of the Egyptians “ Hail, ye four Ape-gods who sit in the
:
“front of the Boat of Ra, who convey Truth to the God of the
“ Universe, who sit in judgment on my wickedness and on my
“ virtue, who satisfy the gods with the flames of your mouths,
“ who offer offerings to the gods, and funerary food to the
“ spirits, who live on Truth, who feed on truth of heart, in
“ whom is neither deceit nor fraud, who abominate wickedness,
“ do away my evil deeds, put away my sin, and remove every-
u thing which maketh a barrier between you and me. Let me
“ journey through Ammehet, let me enter Restau, let me pass
“ through the secret doors of the Other World. Let cakes
“ and ale be given to me as to the Spirits, and let me go in
“ and come out from Restau.” The Ape-gods reply “Come,
:
“for we have done away thy wickedness, and put away thy
“ sin, and we have destroyed all the evil which appertained to
“
thee on earth. Thou shalt enter Restau, and pass through
“ the secret doors of the Other World. Cakes and ale shall
“ be given unto thee, thou shalt go in and out at thy desire,
“ even as do those who are favoured of the god, and thou
“ shalt be proclaimed each day on the horizon.”
—
124
CHAPTER X.
Egyptian Gods.
The following is a list of the principal Egyptian gods and
goddesses, with their names in hieroglyphics ; at the end of it
will be found pictures of 5 7 of them, outlined in the forms in
which they most commonly occur :
Amen $ Originally a local god of Thebes,

he usurped the attributes of all
when joined
the great gods, and
_ D £^3 to Ra, he was regarded as
Amen-Ra ms
(j
1/wwsaALIO ill! me
the “ King of me
king or gods.”
the goas. His
name often found joined to that of Amsu, or Menu
is
^ ,
and as such he the god of generation and fecundity.

is A
certain kind of Ram was sacred to him.
one of the four children
Amset (or perhaps Akeset), -
,
(| of Horus, to whose care

were entrusted the stomach and large intestines of the de-
ceased he is represented with the head of a man.
;
a form of the Moon-god. His female counter-

Ani
part was An it.
a goddess of war and hunting she
ANTAT ;
/W
'}fl ^ HR was of Syrian origin. (Anaitis.)
t îe divine physician, who assisted at the em-
\ NP u D ^k
fl Vfl’
Jr* ill balmment of Osiris, and was the guardian of
1
all mummies. He was present at the Judgment. The jackal

was sacred to him.
An-Heru
agod of This in PP er ^ E SypU whose >
U
jj position was usurped by Osiris.
Anqet, a goddess of the First Cataract.
G
Apt ^PP°P otamus S°ddess Thebes.
Ap
a
W
^^
f ^^
^ in
a § od who a PP eared in the form
’
jackal; he seems to
of a
have assisted
Anubis in “ opening the ways” of the dead.
Osiris, the god and judge of the dead.
i.e., I he
AsAr
M’ ~ seats of his worship
~
were at Abydos and Busiris.
Sarapis, i.e., the deified Apis Bull,
AsAr-Hep A. % 9
and, in late times, the god of death

and of the dead.
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN GODS. 125
Ast ,
i.e., Isis, the wife of Osiris, and mother of Horns.
A
Astes
\STES A companion of Thoth.
Atemu n. ,
a local god of Heliopolis, who per-
1
sonified the Sun-god as the closer of the
day. He is represented in the form of a man, and the lion
and lotus were sacred to him.
Baba ,
the first-born son of Osiris.
Bar ,
Baal, a Semitic god. Hebrew
J:
Bes* ,
the Dwarf-god from Central Africa. He was
J . the god of mirth and pleasure.
Bast
^ the Cat-goddess, whose seat of worship was
,
^ P j| v} Bubastis, in the Delta.

one of the four children of Horus, to whose
Hapi ,
is
deceased
care were entrusted the small intestines of the
he is represented with the head of an ape.
HApi
- — ;
fl
/WWW
>
the Nile-god. The old form of the
LI
.
\\
.
/www
I
.
name is Hep.
Hapi A' the Apis Bull.
1
Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, the young
Heru ,
Sun-god.
Heru-netch-tef-f
Heru-ur
to
i.e.,
., “Hon
A
“Horus the elder.”
Horus, protec-
tor of his father.’
“ Horus
^#5v the Child.”i.e.,
l'
Heru-p-khart . »
,
(Harpokrates.)
3
J5
i.e., " Horus of the two Horizons,” a
Heru-khuti
X
,
>
form of the Sun-god.
H ER u-k henti-An- maati '
,
the Blind Horus,
li-\\ o o
Heru-shefi ig ,
the Sun-god of Herakleopolis.
\\
'
Hu the god of taste.
c
i.e., Hathor, the goddess of love and beauty ;

II et- Heru ,
a special kind of cow was sacred to her.
Iusaaset
A ^~ one of the chief
("I
c’ goddesses
,
of Heliopolis.
126 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN GODS.
Imouthes, a native of Memphis,

^=3 ,i.e.,
I-EM-HETEP
deified after his death, £il who was ;
he and Herutataf, son of Cheops, were held to be the two

most learned men of Egypt.
the god who laid the cosmic egg, husband
Keb ,
of Nut.
the Beetle-god, a form of Ra, and the
Khepera ,
creator of the world.

the Potter-god and Ram-god of the
Khnemu ,
^ First Cataract.
Khensu or Khonsu ,
the Moon-god.
Khensu-nefer-hetep & another form of

,
£u the Moon-god.
Maat ,
the goddess of right, truth, law, order, etc.
O ]
Menhet ,
a form of Bast or Sekhet.
Mentu ,
a War-god of Hermonthis.
a sk y-g° ddess who is depicted in the

Meh-urt
" J 8
^
’
form of n row
>
•
>
R
Mersekert a a goddess of the Underworld,
,
who is depicted in the form of

a woman-headed serpent.
a goddess who presided over the
Meskhene!t 1
(HI . ^ birth-chamber,
iv
I
^r\ ^ the mother-goddess par excellence ,
wife of
O Li Amen-Ra, the king of the gods.
7 “lord of wholeness,” a name
Neb-er-tcher ,
> <~> of Osiris. £L]

Nephthys, sister of Osiris, and mother of
Nebt-het ,
i'£) YU Anubis.
- o S \ son of Ptah and Sekhet of
Nefer-Temu ,
> Yii Memphis.

probably the oldest goddess of Upper
Nekhebet
form of a vulture.
p^ ,
YU Egypt ; she was worshipped under the
Neith, the goddess of Sais, who existed in

N Ef
^ Q) four aspects or forms. She was called “One,”
was self-produced, and was declared by her devotees to have
begotten and given birth to the Sun-god.
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN GODS. 127
000 the god of the primeval water abyss, and “father

F=*SiIof the gods."
0 ^ ^ f\ the female counterpart of Nu, the Sky-
^ UT >
O lI goddess.
,
a serpent-goddess who per-
formed many offices for the
,
a local Cat-goddess.
a form of the Sun-god, and the master-craftsman

Ptah ,
of the world. He was the head of the triad of

Memphis- -Ptah, Sekhet, Bast.
Ptah-Seker
D R &
a form of the dead Sun-god, or,
the night sun. god of death. A

Ptah-Seker-Asar the triune god of
the Resurrection.
The three great gods of death.
D the creator of the great
Ptah-Tatenen /WWW.
,
cosmic egg. /www

one of the four children
QeBH-SENNUF A ,
ni of Horus, to whose
care were entrusted the liver and gall-bladder of the
deceased he is represented with the head of a hawk,
;
Ra ,
the Sun-god of Egypt, and creator of the world.
O 1
i.e ., Ra-Harmachis, the

Ra-Herokhuti ,
O Sun-god of Egypt.
Renenet /WWW ,
a goddess who presided over birth.
/WWW O
Rennut /WWW ,
the goddess of harvest.
/WWW
Reshpu ,
the god of lightning and of war. He
was introduced into Egypt from Syria.
Sa ,
god of intelligence.
Satet a Nubian goddess of the First Cataract.
the great god of the Underworld of

Seker ,
Memphis, the god of Death.

Sebek the Crocodile-god.
|1
JJ
Sept i.e., Sothis, the Dog-star.
128 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN GODS.
Sekhet
Serqet
oa^ ,
the
oldest form of her
,
wife
the Scorpion-goddess.
of Ptah of
name
Memphis.
is Sekhmet.
The
Z)
Seshetat ,
the goddess of writing and literature.
Set
a
the brother and murderer of Osiris, opponent of
c
,
V Horus the Elder, and of Horus son of Osiris

,
I
nmn
and Isis. About 1200 b.c. he was no longer worshipped as a
god, but was regarded as a power of evil, and he became the
god of the burning desert, and of waste and destruction.
The animal sacred to him has not yet been identified.
Shai TtTtT flO J 5
god of luck, or destiny.
~ |? tk J5) god of the air, and bearer up of the sky. It

H ,
K n v 1 was he who separated Nut from the embrace

of Keb, i.e ., the sky from the earth. His female counterpart
was Tefnut.
oUTEKH I
a S od of f he Syrians and Hittites,
j, \y. . identified with Set.
/WWW
Tanen /WWW ‘ I
a cosmic god.
^
d A-TENEN /vs/waa
I S /vwvw
i
Ta-urt ^ ,
the Hippopotamus-goddess.
Tefnet ,
the female counterpart of Shu.
O
the scribe of the gods, inventor of astronomy
Tehuti ,
- and mathematics. The divine Advocate who

obtained the acquittal of Osiris in the Hall of Judgment at
Memphis.
Temu See Atem.
Tetun
been at Semnah,
^
Second Cataract.
an ancient god of the Northern Sudan,
yj whose principal sanctuary seems to have
in the
J5) one of the four children of
Tuamutef ,
£[] Horus, to whose care were ^

entrusted the heart and lungs of the deceased he is repre- ;
sented with the head of a jackal.

—
SACRED BIRDS, ANIMALS, FISH, ETC, 129
one of the oldest goddesses of Lower

Uatchit
1
,
(u\
| o Egypt ; the seat of her worship was at
Per-Uatchit, a city which was called by the Greeks Buto.
a name of Osiris. The name
Un-nefer ,
means “Good Being.”

a form of Isis, as the
Urt-hekau ,
great inventress of spells
and incantations.
The principalsacred birds, animals, etc., were The : —
hawk, sacred to solar gods ; the vulture, sacred to Mut
and cognate gods ; the ibis, sacred to Thoth ; the ram,
sacred to Khnemu, Amen, Osiris, etc. ; the lion, sacred to
Temu, Horus, Aker, etc. ;
various kinds of bulls, sacred to
Apis, Mnevis, Osiris, Amen, etc. ;
the cow, sacred to Hathor
and cognate gods; the cat, sacred to Bast; the ichneumon,
sacred to Uatchit ; the sow, sacred to Isis ; the hare, sacred
to Osiris; the jackal, sacred to Anubis, Ap-uat, etc.; the
shrewmouse, sacred to Horus; the dog = headed ape,
sacred to Thoth; the hippopotamus, sacred to Hathor;
various kinds of fish, sacred to Hat-mehit and other deities ;
the crocodile, sacred to Sebek ; the scorpion, sacred to
Selqet ; the beetle, sacred to Ra and Khepera ; the uraeus,
sacred to Nekhebit, Uatchit, and other goddesses ; various
kinds of serpents, sacred to Seker and to many earth gods
and goddesses. The following group of illustrations gives
the commonest form of the principal gods and goddesses as
they are found both on the monuments and in papyri. The
gods who were especially connected with the dead always
appear in the form of a mummy, and nearly all of them bear
or wear objects which indicate their special attributes :
Amen-Ra, King of The God Amsu, Amset, or Mestha, or The Goddess Anit.
the Gods, .
or Menu. Kestha (son of Horus).
1
i3o FORMS OF EGYPTIAN GODS.
The God Anpu

(Anubis). (Osiris).
The Goddess Ast The God Atmu. The God Bennu

(Isis). (z.<?., the Soul of
(Osiris).
Osiris).
The Goddess The Goddess The Goddess

Hathor. Hathor. Hathor.
FORMS OF EGYPTIAN GODS. T 3 r
The God The God The God The Goddess The Goddess
Khepera. Khnemu. Khensu. Maat. Menhet.
The God The Goddess Nebt- The Goddess Nebt'

Mentu-Rfi. het (Nephthys). het (Nephthys).
’he God Nefer- The Goddess The Goddess The Goddess

'remu. Nekhebet. Net(Neith). Nut.
’he God Ptah- Qebhsennuf (Son The God Ra- The Goddess The God
Seker. of Horus). Harinachis. Renenet. Reshpu.
I 2
L 32 'FORMS OF EGYPTIAN GODS.
The God Sebek. Sefekh-Abiu, The God Seker

or Sesheta.
The God Teûti Tuamutef (Son The Goddess The Goddess

(Thoth). of Horus). Uatchit. Nut-Hekau.
—
133
CHAPTER XI.
The Egyptian Language and Writing.

The Egyptian language has formed the subject of many
lengthy and learned dissertations, and even at the present day
scholars are not agreed as to the exact place which must be
assigned to it among the African and Asiatic languages. It
contains fundamental elements of African origin, and a very
large number of biliteral words in it have been preserved front
pre-dynastic times ; on the other hand, there are found, even
in early texts, many triliteral words, which in the ordinary way
we should say were of Semitic origin. Besides these, there are
several words e.g., the pronouns— which are identical in form
and meaning with genuine Semitic words ; and there are, of
course, a considerable number of loan words, of which the
Hebrew originals are well known. These facts have induced
some writers to assert that the ancient Egyptian language was
Semitic, and to discuss it as if it were a Semitic dialect but it
;
is far more likely to have descended from an African language
which possessed certain characteristics in common with the

older forms of some of the Semitic dialects now known to us.
The oldest form of Egyptian writing is the hieroglyphic,
in which the various objects, animate and inanimate, which the
pictures represent are depicted as accurately as possible. A
remarkable peculiarity of hieroglyphic writing is the slight
modification of form which the characters have suffered during
a period of thousands of years, but it will be readily understood
that such an elaborate system of writing became extremely
inconvenient under certain circumstances. So long as inscrip-
tions were of a ceremonial or funereal character, and were
intended to last for a very long time, it was natural enough to
make use of elaborately drawn or carved pictures of objects ;
but in the case of letters and documents which concerned the
ordinary business of life the picture system was found to be
too cumbrous in cases where haste was required. The scribes,
when writing upon papyrus, or making drafts of inscriptions
which had to be cut in stone afterwards, began by abbreviating
and modifying the characters, taking care, however, that the
most salient characteristics of the object represented were
preserved.
Little by little the hieroglyphics lost much of their pictorial
character, and many of them degenerated into signs, which
;
134 EGYPTIAN WRITING.
formed the cursive writing* which ancient and modern

scholars have called Hieratic. This was extensively used by
the priests in all periods, and though it occupied originally a
subordinate position in respect of hieroglyphics, a good know-
ledge of it was of great importance to the learned in Egypt.
Soon after the rule of the XXIInd dynasty the scribes invented
a series of purely arbitrary or conventional modifications of
the hieratic characters, and so a new style of writing called
Enchorial or Demotic came into existence. It was used at
first chiefly for business or social purposes, but finally copies
of the Book of the Dead and lengthy literary compositions
were written in it. In the Ptolemaic period Demotic was con-
sidered to be of such importance that whenever the text of a
royal decree was- inscribed upon a stele which was to be set up
in some public place, and was intended to be read by the
public in general, a version of the said decree written in the
Demotic character was added. Thus on the Rosetta Stone
the Demotic inscription occupies the middle portion of the
face of the stone, and when this stone was fixed on its
pedestal the Demotic text was probably on the eye line of the
beholder ; the hieroglyphic version was above it, and the
Greek below. In the case of the Rosetta Stone the decree of
the priests which is cut upon it is probably a copy of the
original document from which the hieroglyphic transcript and
the Greek translation were made.
The later equivalent of the ancient Egyptian language is
called Coptic, and of this four or five dialects are known.
Its name is derived from the name of the old Egyptian city,
Qebt, through the Arabic Qubt, which in its turn was intended
to represent the Greek AI^vtttos. The literature written
in Coptic is chiefly Christian ; some think that the Holy
Scriptures were translated into it in the second century, and
some hold that this did not take place until the fourth century,
and others it was not until the eighth century that a
assert that
translation of thewhole of the Old Testament was made into
Coptic. Curiously enough, Coptic is written with the letters
of the Greek alphabet, to which were added six characters
derived frcm the Demotic forms of ancient Egyptian hiero-
glyphics, to express sounds which were peculiar to the
Egyptian language.
The hieroglyphic system of writing ceased to be in general
use long before the close of the Roman rule in Egypt, and
the place, both of it and of hieratic, was taken by Demotic
THE ROSETTA STONE. *35
the widespread use of Greek and Latin among the governing

and upper classes of Egypt also caused the disappearance of
Egyptian as the language of state. The study of hieroglyphics
was prosecuted by the priests probably until the end of the
fifth century of our era, but very little later the ancient
inscriptions had become absolutely a dead letter, and, until
the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was neither an
Oriental nor a European who could either read or understand
a hieroglyphic inscription. In the eighteenth century Warburton
divined the existence of alphabetic characters, De Guignes
rightly guessed that some of the signs were determinatives,
and Zoega thought that the hieroglyphics were letters, and
that the oval rings, ( or cartouches, contained royal names.
In 1799 ê Rosetta Stone was found among the ruins of
Fort Saint Julien at Rosetta by M. Boussard, but it came
into the possession of the British a year later, and in 1802
was deposited in the British Museum. The inscription on
the stone is a decree of the priests of Memphis, in which the
good deeds of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, 205 b.c. to 181 b.c.,
are enumerated, and it orders that divine honours shall be
paid to him ;
it further decrees that statues of the king shall
he set up in every temple of Egypt, and orders that a copy

of the decree, inscribed on a basalt stele in Hieroglyphic,
Demotic, and Greek characters, shall be set up in each of
the first, second, and third grade temples near the king’s
statue. The importance of this stone is very great, for the
decipherment of hieroglyphics is centred in it, and it supplied
the clue which has resulted in the restoration of the ancient
Egyptian language and literature.
When the Rosetta Stone was first discovered, Napoleon
Bonaparte ordered it to be taken to Cairo, and placed
in a building with the other monuments which his soldiers
had collected, for he intended to found an Academy there.
He caused lithographic copies of the inscriptions to be
prepared, and these he distributed among the savants of
Europe; the Greek version was o first translated into French
and Latin by Ameilhon, and Akerblad, a Swede, identified
some of the royal names in the Demotic text, and pub-
lished a Demotic alphabet in 1802. Between 1814 and
1818 Dr. Thomas Young proved the existence of alpha-
betic and syllabic characters in hieroglyphic writing, and
he identified correctly the names of six gods, and those of
Ptolemy and Berenice; he also discovered the true values
—
136 YOUNG AND CHAMPOLLION.
of six letters of the alphabet, and the correct consonantal

values of three more. This he did some years before
Champollion published his Egyptian alphabet, and as priority
of publication must be accepted as indication of priority of
discovery, credit should be given to Young for at least this
contribution towards the decipherment of Egyptian hiero-
glyphics. About the year 1818 the cartouche of Cleopatra
was correctly identified by Mr. Bankes from a bilingual
inscription in Greek and hieroglyphs, which mentioned two
Cleopatras and one Ptolemy. In 1822 Champollion published
a masterly dissertation on hieroglyphics, and incorporated in
it the correct results of Young’s labours; his philological and
linguistic studies enabled him to carry the work much further

than ever Young could have done, and his subsequent labours
form the foundation of the modern science of Egyptology.
For the superstructure we have to thank to mention the —
names of dead Egyptologists only Birch, Lepsius, Hincks, —
Brugsch, Chabas, Dumichen, and de Rouge. The hieroglyphic
spellings of the names Ptolemy, Cleopatra, Berenice, Arsinoe,
Tiberius Caesar, and Alexander, and the values assigned to the
characters by the early workers are as follows :
Qdp oI qo Sa>L = Ptolemy.
(A ^ l ^
A
eT1 0 p\a TT 5
J= Cleopatra.
•g ~][ = Berenice.
Bee
Q 0]= Arsinoe.
= Tiberius Cesar.
: *
^T <= > »-
/WVWVA
= Alexander.
0 R K S N R S
J
Further investigations of the hieroglyphic forms of the
names and titles of Greek and Roman kings and emperors,
and of their wives and daughters, enabled Champollion to
deduce the syllabic values of other signs, and at length to
compile a classified syllabary. The letters which he collected
from the proper names and titles of Greek and Roman rulers
of Egypt may be given in tabular form, thus
—
EGYPTIAN ALPHABET. 137
A ra h
(1
A or E 1
n A
or I
(](j
T
0 or U
T
1
*
J •
T
TCH
K
^ K
ffi K
It will be noticed that we have three different kinds of K,
three of T, two of H, and three of A. At the early date,
when the values of the hieroglyphics were first recovered, it was
not possible to decide the exact difference between the varieties
of sounds which these letters represented the values of the
;
letters of the complete alphabet are as follows :
A s F
Ik
<1
A 72 M
57 _ 71 A 2
/WW\A or N
l]lj or N\ I
n <=> R
or @ U s L
1 B H
J rr ra
D P n H
I
138 EGYPTIAN PICTURE SIGNS.
c ® KH (or x)
V A Q
(Arabic)
2
, a K (or G)
D •A
j
n
s m T
r
v |l
J
> u
e T (or DH)
IT (=va Sir (or S)
n «=» TH (or 9 )
^ V A K * TCH (or T)
The Egyptian alphabet has, in respect of guttural and other

sounds, something in common with the Semitic dialects, and
therefore the letters of the Hebrew alphabet have been added
for purposes of comparison.
Every hieroglyphic character is a picture of some object,
animate or inanimate. The simplest use of hieroglyphics is,
of course, as pictures, thus a hare, an owl, a
bull, a wasp or hornet,

^ a lotus flower, @a head,
pz a star, a pyramid, a leg and foot, and so on. But

J\^ ^
hieroglyphics may also represent ideas, e.g., a wall falling
down sideways represents the idea of “ falling ” a hall

; j J j
in which deliberations by wise men were held represents the
idea of counsel ;
a man grasping a staff indicates the act
of striking, fight, contest, etc. a musical instrument repre-

; J
and so on. Characters
sents the idea of pleasure, happiness, joy,
used in way are called ideographs
this Now every picture .
of every object must have had a name, or we may say that

each picture was a word-sign, and a list of these arranged in
proper order would have made a dictionary in the earliest
times. But if it were necessary to write the name of a
foreign potentate, or of some object, a scribe would have to
employ a number of characters which possessed the requisite
sound values, without any regard to their meaning as pictures.
— —
EGYPTIAN PICTURE SIGNS. 1
39
name “ Alexander,” one form

{)
A L
^
Let us take the
<=>
K S
/wwvv
N
O <=> —
T R S
Now the
of which was
first sign
D is a
picture of a reed, the second and seventh of a mouth, the

third of a bowl with a ring handle, the fourth and eighth of a
door-bolt, the fifth of the surface of rippling water, and the
sixth of a cake in this name each of these characters is em-
;
ployed for the sake of its sound only. In one case, a sign
is used to express the sounds of both L and R, unless the name
was pronounced “ Al[e]ks[a]ntl[e]s.” The need for characters

which could be employed to express sounds only caused the
Egyptians at a very early date to set aside a considerable
number of picture signs for this purpose, and to these the
name of phonetics has been given. Phonetics are of two
classes, alphabetic and syllabic. The alphabetic phonetics
have already been given, and examples of syllabic phonetic
characters are the following : ashem ,

nar,
^ kheper ,
hen , f=3 pet ,

faiT uat , 1^2 nef \
hetep, and so on.
In the earliest dynastic inscriptions known to us, hieroglyphic

characters are used as pictures, ideographs, and phonetics side
by side, which proves that these distinctions must have been
invented in pre-dynastic times.
Many ideographs possess more than one phonetic value,
in which case they are called poly phones ; and many
ideographs representing entirely different objects have similar
values, in which case they are called homophones. So
long as the PIgyptians used picture writing pure and simple
their meaning was easily understood, but when they began
to spell theirwords with alphabetic signs and syllabic values
of picture signs, which had no reference whatever to the
original meaning of the signs, it was at once found necessary
to indicate in some way the meaning and even sounds
of many of the words so written this they did by ;
adding to them signs which are called determinatives.

^ ^ “ obelisk, ”
Thus, in the word tekhen , |1 ,
the sign for
MWA 11
obeliskis the specific determinative of the word tekhen .
As examples of the use of general determinatives may be

mentioned :
140 EGYPTIAN DETERMINATIVES AND THEIR USE.
man beckoning
I.
1 a
raised ;
with
determinative of “ to
his right
call.”
hand, which is
2 . a man seated, with his hand to his mouth ;
determinative of to eat, to think, to speak, etc.
3-
^ q
a hide of an animal ;
determinative of animal,
ram falling from the sky ;

determinative of storm,
thunder, etc.
the solar disk ;

determinative of time.
6. -A a pair of legs determinative of actions performed

;
by the legs.
The following words illustrate their use
time.
I . /WWW
rek
to eat.
0 0 a.
A
hour-
2 .
dm ww* (sO unnut

ivO day-
to drink. Ji hru
Pis
|
1
) surd
M fl
to stand.
6 .
to remember. Y J\ aha
p sekha oa to arrive.
a to be silent. w M to send.
ker
Jiab
mouse.
to step.
pennu khent
_
V •
tempest. to come forth.
4 -
i *
shenra sper
Many words have more than one determinative thus in the :
/WWW
word qebh “ cool water ” /www t — _- r the last three "
^JJ ^ AVW/W
/WWW
characters /WWW are determinatives ;
in the word
/WWW
DAY
shat “ to slay,”
J
% ^ and are deter-

—
EGYPTIAN INSCRIPTIONS. 141
mi natives ;
and in the word rekhit “ rational beings ”
1
,
the sign is a determinative of
sound, are determinatives showing that men and
women are referred to, and l is the determinative of plurality.

AAAAAA
”
In the word nemme/iu “ poor folk ©
and a woman
the pictures of a child ,
are the determinatives, and show that the word nemmeh means
and a man
^ ,
a number of human beings of both sexes who are in the

condition of helpless children.
We have seen how ideographs, and alphabetic and syllabic
phonetic signs, and determinatives may be used in writing
words let us now take a connected passage from a text and
;
observe how the hieroglyphics are arranged therein. The

passage reads :
ra & 0
<=> o
1
AAAAAA Q
P°2
•
<3^
1
P 1
I III
n?pp^ III
n
!
-A
AAAAAA
;
ra 1
Â^
A A
9$
| AA^V ! i I
•<s>-
~
A& AAAAAA
I B AAAAAA 1 AAAAAA
We will now break up

the extract into words, for whether
written horizontally or perpendicularly the words of an
inscription are never separated from each other by the
Egyptians ; we will mark the determinatives by an asterisk*
and the syllabic values by a dagger t, and leave the alphabetic
signs unmarked, and add the transliteration with the translation
arranged interlinearly.
ra
I
au ari - na heseset reth hereret

I have done what is pleasing to men, [and] what is gratifying
—
142 EXAMPLES OF EGYPTIAN WORDS.
/L— J] T
I i r
neteru her - s au ta - na tau
to the gods because of it I have given bread
A T
ill *
en heqer sesa - a at
to the hungry, I have filled the destitute.
> MWA CTJ
vh* i I
au shes - na neter em per f an

I have followed god in his house, not
„ i
J] s 1
aa re-a em shemt an
was magnified my mouth against the nobles, not
J\ * o i
^ ^ I i
pet nemmat-a ske/n - a her sa

making long my stride, I walked according to
jJj
y,
f l
AAMVv 1 -I
JJ\[\ I
khent sheps art - na em maat

the step of dignity, I acted according to the law
mer en suten
beloved of the king.
The following common words will also illustrate the use

of phonetics and determinatives :
skin. tooth.
a
V dbeh
V hair. tongue.
n shenti nes
nose.
fe7it
B
=cz^> jf |
skulL
tcheru
EXAMPLES OF EGYPTIAN WORDS. *43
^ neck. moon.
? nehebet dah
shoulder. star.
r n
/wwv\
i
^\ erment p*j seb
_a
hand and arm. ra k O day.
a ir i
back. a »
O
ni g ht
at t bp'rh
kerb
iuuiuit
breast. elephant.
ment abu
u<>
/
h
r crocodile.
emsuh
liver. flea.
A I
madset I]
() ^ &
thigh. first-born.
^ ' aart PkP setnsu
— fl
flesh. fiend.
0.0^ hau sebdu
— fl
j
members, horse.
i
at hetrd
forehead, worm.
rm ® /wfe/z fent
eyebrows.
1
1 //VWVA X Jl ^ cinhu
’
mortals.
blood.
rckhit
. f se?if
hippopota-
sky, mus.
^ I /<?/
i tebt
c= ^= a
earth. boat.
I n ta uda
<c=^>
O sun.
—
144
CHAPTER XII.
Hymn to Ra, from the Papyrus of Ani.
The following is the text of a hymn with interlinear trans-

literation and which will serve to give the reader
translation,
an idea of the manner in which the Egyptians strung words
together, and will show how alphabetic and syllabic characters,
and determinatives, are used in a religious composition :
tua - tuau Ra x eft uben -

f
An adoration of Ra when he riseth
° /WWW ^
tO) 1]^
| cs b v|
X ut abtet ent pet ha en

the horizon eastern of heaven Rejoice
Jjil
aniu - x e t • f a Asar Ani
those who are in his train. Hail Osiris Ani,
D /WWW
[
1
^ ^7
'll 1 o
em maaxeru t' et -
f a aten pui neb
with the word of maat* saith he : Hail Disk that, lord
satetu uben em xu t h ru ne ^
of rays, rising in the horizon day every;
pest - k
êm
T
her
~ a
en Asar
do thou shine upon the face of Osiris
* Madt kheru means word of madt “[whose] word [is to become]

,
madtP or, “whose word is law.” The scribe Ani is supposed to have
arrived at the state wherein he has the power of uttering his words in such
a way that they must have the effect he wishes them to have.
HYMN TO RA. 145
*
em m ciayer 11 tua - f tu em tuait
with the word \
I
of madt.
He adoreth thee at daybreak,
\ J
f3\ I
^
se - hetep - f tu maseru
he maketh to rest thee with praise at eventide.
1 -£=1-
CZ1D A MAMA
I I I
per ba en Asar Ani maayeru

J with thewordl
May come forth the soul of Osiris Ani,
of madt
\ j ,
Q /WW\A ^
hena - k er pet
F=q IV- & utu - f em
with thee into heaven, may he go forth in
Mcidtet
AAAAAA
mend -
f em
& a
Sektet
the Mddtet boat, may he come into port in the Sektet boat,
6 .
X£L) I I I
abex - / em dyemu - urt em

may he go in among the stars which never set in
^ ^3>- *n /ww\a /A
p|
F=^ 4a 1^ 1 1 111
pet Asar Ani hetep-ta , maayeru
heaven. Osiris Ani, being at peace
t'et - f suas -
f neb -
f neb
saith he, adoreth he his lord, the lord of
K
;
146 HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT.
JieJi anet' - her - k Hern -

x u ti
eternity, [saying] : Homage to thee, Horus of the two horizons,
xepera pu yep er t’esef neferiu

Khepera that is, [who] created himself ; doubly beautiful
uben
0
k
—k em
00
-ni-
se - Jiet' - Ji
[is] thy rising in the horizon, thou shinest upon
-Z tain
kem
T*8I- sat 21 k
!M neteru nebu
the two lands with thy beams. Gods all
kem haaui maa s\eri\ tu

are in rejoicing [when] they see thee
o
>-k
em
1 /vwnaa
snten en pet
r\ ww
Nebt Unnut
l
in the condition of king of heaven. Nebt-Unnut
WW\A
men -
}<\
ta
kem
1
tep - k shemat s
1
is placed upon thv head her portion of the south !
meht
SBr
-
k V ^
apt - k
I
[and] her portion of the north [are] on thy forehead
™ — k
au an - nes auset - s em hat - k Tehuti
she maketh her place before thee. Thoth
HYMN TO RA. 147
/WVAAA
men
&em hat
1
uaa - k her
i
is fixed in the front of thy boat to
/WVWv
sesun net
I I I
k
11 .
nebu
'W amu
yeftiu -
annihilate thy enemies all. Those who dwell
*
a c=r=] s\
m
tuat per em Xesefu ^ "
in the netherworld come forth to meet thee with bowings,
Jr
er maau seshetn
12 D
-
^
pu nefer
and to see [thy] Image that beautiful.
/WW\A
n ^
1a
i - na xer - k dud hena - k er
I have come before thee, may I be with thee to
D ^
/vwwv 0
a^'k’k II
1 o 1 MMM
maa aten - k hru neb an
see thy disk day every, may [i]
MAMA
* II^L-a a
AftAAM 1
X^na - tu an
!3.§
senar - tu
J\
\
not be shut in. may [I] not be turned back,
^>- t
s<(> 111 a 6 mi
maiu hau - a em teka
ttKu neferu-k
neftru-K
/ be renewed my members by sight of
the si: thy beauties,
n H-fWi III
14 J I a ^
0 vf
md best k - nebu her entet nuk ua

like thy favoured ones all, because I am one
K 2
! ;

' AAAAAA
|
Q /W\AAA 3 1
em ennu en sepses - nek tep ta CL21
of those who worshipped thee upon earth. May

AAAAAA
^==> AAAAAA 1
I6 /wwva
^ °I
-
peh - na er ta en heh yjiem - na

I arrive at the land of eternity, may I be united to
er ta en t'etta entek as utu - na

the land of everlastingness; thon, behold, hast ordered for me
-<2>r /vwwv
Cs jy 1 1 1
set neb - a a Asar Ani maayeru em

f with the word \
it, my lord. Hail Osiris Ani,
of maat
•
\ , /
hetep maayeru t'et -

f anet' -her-k uben - k
wlt ord
peace,|
o ^^JJ |he saith : Homage to thee, thou risest
em xut - k
^ ^3em Ra
[ ^
hetep
1
her Maat
in thy horizon as Ra, stablished by Maat
9
I
t' a - k pet her neb her maa - k

Thou passest over the sky, face every is for watching thee
semt - k amen
&
em
I
her -
yvwvAA
III
sen
and thy progress, having been hidden from face[s] their
HYMN TO RA. 149
/L—fl
ta - k - tu tuat em maseru
thou givest thyself [at] dawn [and] at eventide
ra,
? i8.2«^fl JL
hru retiu seqtet x er
day [every]. Goeth forward in strength the Sektet boat having
hen - k
T satu - k
_a mi
em heru
1
an
thy majesty; thy beams shine in [all] faces, not
rex ' se t smu (?) an sma

known are they [thy] rays, not can be told
0
1 111
ammu k - taiu nu neteru
thy beams. The lands of the gods
fill
tnaa - an
entu her
set
must be looked upon, and the colours of the eastern countries
^
T7
Q /WW\A
1
[W1 20.
I VWWA 1
nu Punt er sap - tu amen

of Punt for to be computed what is hidden.
/WWW |
k
ari - ua - td sem un - re -
f
Thou makest alone by thyself [thy] form in its appearance,
fj\ 000 7
\eperu - k tep Nu auf er

thou comest into existence above Nu. He,
p — o
*5° HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT.
sem -
f
EL —
matet er semt - k
CL]
&7i
may he progress even as thou progressest, not
-<2>-
ari
AAAAAA
—
abu
o
ma
I
1
hen
!— k
- nef -
thy majesty [maketh \

may he make cessation even as f
not cessation]
\ f
hru ketet
f> kept
f!
uau - ta
for a period little, striding, travelling over
D
J
M,
1
—
c\
1
*
\\
<=^> Jl
fv
atru
A/VWVA
MWA
AAAAAA
1 S 1 Lem
f'i
heh
H
hefnu
distances of millions of years
^^ csa I] o fk
at sercit aru - nek set

in one moment little thou doest it
A °*
;
£=]23
c •li WWM O
i
hetep - nek kem - nek unnut

and thou settest. Thou makest an end of the hours
s TT — h h
kerh matet mesmes - nek set

of the night, likewise thou dost thyself count them,
AAAAAA
El
kem nek - ma enta - k
thou endest [them] according to thy statutes,
24. n—
het '
- ta ta - k - tu er
and the earth becometh light. Thou givest thyself to
HYMN TO RA. 151
ra - k em Ra uben - k em
thy work under the form of Ra, thou risest in*
fn il fi Ikm'M [
“
xut Asar an Am maaxeru t' et - f
the horizon. Osiris, scribe
A ,vith theword \
Ani or maat
hg sa ; th
j ,J
25
-*Vi
tua -
!
f tu
^
em pest - k t' et -
f
he ador eth thee in thy shining, he saith
nek em uben - k tuau - k em

to thee in thy rising when thou makest dawn in
TMi seqa
Will
xeperu
v_^<s
- k
26.
_
%
D
- k
exulting over thy coming into existence : Thou art crowned
em seaa neferu-k hepiu - U 7iub k

in the majesty of thy beauties, advan cing thou mouldest
hau - k messu citi men mestu - f

thy limbs, bringing them forth painlessly ;
born is he
em Ra uben em hert
in the form of Ra, rising in the upper regions.
r
A- 0 v >000 O >000
<H> F~ ~~ ^ AAAAAA
ta - k peh - a hert ent heh
Grant thou that I may reach the heaven of everlastingness
set ent hesiu sma - a

and the mountain of [thy] favoured ones, may I be joined
em yu sepsi aqer nu
with the shining beings, holy and perfect of
Neteryert per - a hena - sen er

the netherworld, may I come forth with them to
maa neferu - k uben - k

see thy beauties. Thou shewest
mcisheru nema - nek mut-k

at eventide. Thou traversest thy mother
©^ <©> r -l
\\
tL, [>=*]
;
nut. ta - k her-[k J unemi
Nut. Thou placest thy face the right.
I i j
\\
s
J |
AAAAAA V
J I ^
aaui-a em ciauiu en hetep-k.
My two hands praise thy setting.
i53
CHAPTER XIII.
The Learning of the Ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians enjoyed among the nations of antiquity

a great reputation for being both religious and learned ; we
have given in the preceding chapter a brief sketch of some of
the most salient features of the Egyptian religion, and it now
remains to indicate shortly the principal characteristics of the
learning of the people of Egypt in the dynastic period. The
custom of embalming the dead taught the Egyptians a certain
amount of practical anatomy, and tradition asserts that they
possessed many works on this subject ; it is, however, clear
that beyond a knowledge of the skeleton, and a good acquaint-
ance with the various organs which they removed from the
body when preparing it for embalming, their information con-
cerning the body was limited. They recognized that the heart
was the principal member of the body, and they understood
the functions of the main veins and arteries, a fact which has
caused some to say that the Egyptians discovered the circula-
tion of the blood. The importance of the heart was known at
a very early period, for the object of one of the oldest chapters
in the Book of the Dead (XXXb) was its restoration to the
deceased in the new life which he lived beyond the grave. In
the chapter the deceased addresses his heart as “ My mother,
my mother, O heart of my existence upon earth,” and the
words, according to the rubric, were to be recited over a green
stone scarab set in gold. An ancient tradition indicates that
the use of the beetle in connection with it dates from the time
of Semti, about 4400 b.c., but there is little doubt that the
beliefs which were associated with it were the product of pre-
i dynastic religious thought. In any case, the prayer given in
Chapter XXXb was recited by pious Egyptians in the Ptolemaic
period, and the deceased entered the Judgment Hall of Osiris
with a prayer on his lips which was then at least 4,000 years
i old.
The knowledge of medicine possessed by the physicians
of the dynastic period was probably of a higher class than their
j
iS4 EGYPTIAN MEDICINE AND BOTANY.
anatomy, and it certainly involved a good practical acquaint-

ance with botany. The climatic conditions of Egypt forced
them to pay considerable attention to diseases of the eyes and
stomach, and there is no doubt that they treated these with
considerable success. In the Book of Medicine commonly
,
known as the Ebers Papyrus, a very large number of recipes

are given, and an examination of these seems to indicate that
in writing prescriptions the physician added many useless sub-
stances to the one or two which he relied upon to effect the
cure. He wished apparently to impress upon his patients the
great amount of various kinds of knowledge which it was neces-
sary for him to possess in dealing with their ailments, and some
medicines contain a score or more of ingredients. As we
should expect, decoctions of plants and herbs, vegetable
powders and oil, fruit essences, etc., were largely used, and
honey appears in many prescriptions. Associated with really
useful remedies we find nauseous substances, such as urine,
human and animal excreta, oil of snakes, beetles boiled in
oil, etc. From the fact that many of these are prescribed as
remedies for diseases which are of an entirely opposite
character, it is clear that they were introduced into prescrip-
tions merely for the sake of effect. That portion of Egyptian
medicine which deals with indigestion, and the ills which result
from cold and chill, shows that the Egyptian physician was able
to cope successfully with the ordinary complaints of his fellow
men, and the good and careful physician earned and obtained,
then as now, the gratitude of mankind. Diseases of the eyes
were especially studied by him, and we know that by means
of certain mineral compounds, unguents, etc., he was able to
find effectual remedies for the results of excessive light, the
glare of the sun on the water, change of temperature, sand,
dust, flies, etc. In Egyptian medicine, as in many other
products of their civilization, there is much which belongs to
the pre-dynastic period, and to the time when man was
intensely ignorant and superstitious, and was obtaining his
knowledge by bitter experience but it must be remembered
;
that the Egyptian was only passing through the stage through
which all ancient peoples have passed, and anyone who takes
the trouble to compare some of the recipes of the Ebers
Papyrus with many in some standard mediaeval medicine book
will be surprised at the numerous points of resemblance. To
what extent modern nations are indebted to the Egyptians in
respect of medicine need not concern us here.
EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY. I
S5
—
Astronomy. There is no doubt that the Egyptians
possessed a considerable amount of knowledge about the
heavens, and that this is worthy of the name of astronomy.
The first surveys of the stars were made by them for
agricultural purposes, that is to say, they depended on the
appearance of certain stars for knowing when the inundation
of the Nile was coming near, and the best time for sowing
their crops. At a very early period they invented a year
which contained 12 months, each of 30 days, and because
they found this year too short, they added to it five days,
making in all 365. But inasmuch as the true solar year
consists of nearly 365 J days, it is clear that unless one day
is intercalated every four years, the whole year must slip back
one day every four years, and that it is only a question of

time when midsummer day would fall on Christmas Day.
Curiously enough, however, many of the Egyptians clung
to the year of 365 days, although, as we know, they were fully
aware that the year in common use was practically a quarter of
a day too short. There may have been many reasons for their
action in this respect, but the strongest of ail appears to have
been the fact that the division of the year into 12 30-day
months and the five additional days was a very ancient one,
and that they had received from very early times the traditional
custom of regarding certain days as lucky, and certain days
as unlucky. Had they adopted the year of 365 days, with a
day intercalated every four years, they would have been com-
pelled to move their whole system of lucky and unlucky days
every four years. Thus conservatism, and probably religious
sentiment, caused them to cling to a changing year which only
agreed with the true year once in 1,461 years.
The practical difficulty as regards agriculture was overcome in
the late period by the priests, who regarded as the true New Year’s
Day that day on which the star Sothis, /.<?,, Sirius, the Dog-Star,
rose with the sun ; the interval of time which elapsed between
two appearances of Sothis in this manner was called a Sothic
Period, and each of the 1,461 divisions of this period was
a Sothic year. A record of the progress of the Sothic Period
was kept by the priests, who were able to inform the farmers
I on what day Sothis would rise with the sun, and which
day was to be regarded as the first day of the Inundation,
and thus agricultural operations could be regulated without
difficulty. An attempt was made by Ptolemy III to reform
the calendar by intercalating one day every four years, but
l
56 EGYPTIAN MATHEMATICS.
it seems not to have been very successful. The division

of the year into seasons, each containing four 30-day months,
or 120 days, was connected directly with farming works;
the first was called “ season of the inundation,” the second
“season of coming forth” (i.e., growing), and the third
“season of harvest.” The Egyptians made star lists and
charts, in which according to a system of their own they
indicated the positions of the stars in the heavens, but they
had no astronomical instruments, in the modern sense of the
term, to help them. They counted the hours by means of the
===~i
instrument
^ -
For mathematics of a theoretical or high class the

Egyptians had no use, and there is no evidence to show
that they ever attempted to work in the higher branches
of the science. The Mathematical Papyrus in the British
Museum proves that they had a good knowledge of elementary
arithmetic, which was sufficient for all their wants in daily
life. It enabled them to count farm produce, and to carry on
—
exchanges in kind for they had no money and, coupled —
with an elementary knowledge of land measurement, assisted
them to find approximately the areas of irregularly shaped
pieces of land. In fact, arithmetic and geometry, to judge by
the evidence before us, were only studied of necessity. All
their calculations which have come down to us are unneces-
sarily elaborate, and proclaim unfamiliarity with quick or mental
calculation. Their system of counting is clumsy, as will be
readily seen. The numbers 1 to 9 are expressed by short
perpendicular strokes, ten is fl, a hundred is a thousand ,
is ten thousand is 'j

,
a hundred thousand is a million
and ten million is Q; but to express “'992,750 large

1
cakes of bread,” it is necessary to write 1
0=0 I
nn
the
DiiDi i.e.,
symbol for 100,000 written nine times, the symbol for 10,000
written nine times, the symbol for 1,000 written twice, the
symbol for 100 written seven times, the symbol for 10 written
five times. December 28, 1899, would be expressed thus year :
—
q N 9 eeee nmri m
1899, month 12,’ day
y 28,5 or ] (year)
u ^^ ill
10 i eeee nnnn m
EGYPTIAN MAGIC. T
57
(iooo -f IOO 4- IOO + IOO -f- IOO -f TOO 4- 10° -f IOO -f IOO
+ io + io -f io 4- io -f io -f io -f io -f io + io -f i 4- i +
i + i+ i + i + i+ i + i), (month) (io + 2),
( ^
® (day)^
** 11
(10 + 10 + 8).*
Among the
learning of the Egyptians must certainly be
mentioned magic, for it occupied a very prominent place
in their minds in all ages, and was probably the forerunner of
their religion. The Westcar Papyrus at Berlin proves to us
that even so far back as the days of King Cheops there were
professional workers of magic who made the public believe
that they could kill birds by cutting off their heads, and then,
having united their heads to their bodies, could restore them
to life, and that they could make a portion of the water in a
lake remove itself and set itself upon the other portion, “ in a
7
heap/ leaving the ground dry on which it had stood, merely
by uttering a word of power. The Egyptians believed that
every object, animate and inanimate, could be made to obey
the words of the men who had a thorough knowledge of
words and names of power. Moreover, the statues of men
could be made to perform work, mere pictures of objects
could be made to become actual things, good and evil spirits
could be made to occupy, or could be driven out from, living
creatures (i.e., men, women, birds, animals, &c.) ; the dead
could be raised, and all the customary limitations of matter,
time, and space could be set at naught by the well-instructed
magician. It was believed that words of good or evil once
uttered under certain conditions were bound to produce an
effect, especially if they were coupled with the name of some
god, or spirit, or demon of power. The influence of the
spoken word could be transferred by writing to a statue, or
to something worn on the body, e.g., a ring, or plaque, or necklace,
or papyrus ; and wherever these were carried the influence of
the name or formula went likewise. Moreover, it was thought
possible to transfer to the figure or statue or picture of any , ,
man, or woman, or animal, or living creature, the soul of the

being whom it represented, and from time immemorial the
people of Egypt believed that every statue and every figure
* An interesting set of calculations, quite different from those found in
the Rhind Papyrus, have been worked out and published by Monsieur G.
Daressy in the Recueit, tom xxviii, Paris, 1906 they belong to the period ;
of the Xllth dynasty.

EGYPTIAN MAGIC.
possessed an indwelling spirit. By burning a picture or a

statue of a person great injury might be done to him,
especially if the burning were accompanied by the recital of a
curse or ban ; and this belief is the cause of the widespread
use of magical figures made of wax or papyrus. To do
harm to a man, the magician first made a model of him in
wax, and wrote his name upon it ; if he wished to cause him
pains, he held the figure over hot ashes, and as it slowly
melted he made gashes in it, or stuck pointed wires into the
parts of it where he wished the pains to come, and recited the
name of the person who was represented by the figure. This
was the method of procedure when it was sought to produce a
painful and lingering death, but when a swift death was
required, the wax figure was thrown into a bright, clear fire,
and was consumed as quickly as possible. On the other hand,
figures made of wax and other substances might be made to
minister to the wants of man, as in the case of ushabtiu
figures. Numbers of these were buried in tombs, so that when
the deceased spoke the words of power which are found in the
Vlth Chapter of the Book of the Dead they might spring into
,
full-grown men or women and perform the agricultural labours

at which the deceased would have had to toil had they not
been there to work on his behalf. Wax figures of men and
animals were also made to serve as receptacles for evil spirits
which were expelled from men.
The religious books of Egypt are filled with allusions to
magical words and ceremonies, and the writers seemed
not to hesitate about repeating any legend, however impossible
it may have seemed to them. Thus Isis by her magic caused
Ra to be poisoned, and only consented to cure him when he
revealed to her his secret name. When Horus was stung by a
scorpion, and Isis found him lying dead, her sister Nephthys
cried out to Thoth, who stopped the Boat of the Sun in which he
was travelling, and came down to listen to what she had to say.
It was Isis who raised Osiris to life by her words of power, and
then conceived a son by him, and she also recited the formulae
which were so important for the reconstitution of his body.
These formulae were not invented by her, but were taught to
her by Thoth, the intelligence of the gods, who spake the
word which resulted in the creation of the world, and they
were supposed to have, in consequence, divine authority. The
“gods,” as well as men, were obedient to such words, and
any magical composition or formula which could in any way
MAGIC IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEAD. 1 59
be connected with Isis was supposed to possess special efficacy.

It will be understood readily that in the days when diseases
were supposed to be caused by evil spirits, and when
the belief in demoniacal possession was universal, words of
magical power were as important as medicine for the sick and
suffering, and that charms, and spells, and incantations, and
exorcisms, were considered to be as potent as drugs. The
anthropomorphic conception of the gods, which was common
throughout Egypt, caused men to think that the same calamities
befell the denizens of heaven as the inhabitants of earth,
and they believed that the gods relied upon magic for pro-
tection against accidents, sickness, and death. Legends of the
troubles which came upon the gods were current, and the
magician professed to know how they acted and what they
said upon those occasions, believing that a repetition of the
divine acts and words would be followed by the same results.
Hence on certain occasions he assumed the characteristic dress
of one god or another, and proceeded to declare that he was
himself that god, and to give his orders to the spirit or spirits
whom he wished to rule. The formulae which were recited by
him consisted for the most part of a string of names of demons,
or, at all events, of supernatural beings, for it was a commonplace
of magic that if only the secret name of a god or demon
were known it was easy to procure his help and obedience.
To be able to name a sickness or disease, or the cause of it, was
synonymous with curing it, even though the magician might
not be quite sure which it was among a list which he recited.
It is, however, in connection with the dead that the
importance of magic to the Egyptians becomes apparent, for,
although they believed that they would obtain resurrection and
immortality through Osiris, they lost no opportunity of making
certain their hope so far as was possible by their own exertions.
Every process of mummification and bandaging was safe-
guarded by spells and charms the mummy bandages were
;
inscribed with prayers, etc., figures of the gods and amulets

were laid on various parts of the body, or rolled up between
the bandages ;
the intestines, which were preserved separately,
were placed in jars with magical inscriptions upon them, and a
scarab was laid on the breast to take the place of the heart,
which had been removed. On the coffin were painted figures
of gods, and prayers full of allusions to incidents connected
with the resurrection of Osiris ; the sepulchral stele was
inscribed with prayers for offerings, which could only be
i6o EGYPTIAN LITERATURE.
supplied by supernatural means, and every act relating to

the deposit of the body in the tomb was connected with
magical beliefs and ceremonies. The Book of the Dead
supplied the deceased with prayers and magical formulae, and
the names of the various supernatural beings whom he would
meet on his way to the kingdom of Osiris, and indicated to
him what to do and what to say in order to procure for himself
the means of subsistence in the other world. All the funeral
ceremonies of the dynastic period were copies, more or less
exact, of those which were performed in pre-dynastic days for
Osiris, and the Egyptian felt certain that if only he could
ensure being said for him the words which were said for
Osiris, and have performed for him the ceremonies which
were celebrated for Osiris, he must necessarily rise again, as
did Osiris, and enjoy immortality, as did Osiris. The
Egyptians never entirely gave up their beliefs in magic,
and long after they became Christians, they placed their
confidence in sacred names, words of power, amulets, etc.
The Greek magical papyri which were written in the early
centuries of the Christian era contain many borrowings from
the older Egyptian books of magic, which were very numerous.
The ancient inhabitants of Babylonia were great believers
in magic, but there is no doubt that Egypt was the home
of the “ Black Art,” and that much of Egyptian magic survived
in the writings of mediaeval sorcerers.
The literature of Egypt. If we deduct from the works of
the ancient Egyptians those which relate to religion and magic,
what remains is not relatively much, but it is extremely
interesting. The hymns to the gods contain lofty sentiments,
well expressed, and here and there may be noted the awe-
struck resignation which is so characteristic of the hymns of
many Oriental peoples. A few love songs have come down
to us, and they show that the Egyptian poet was as much a
master of his craft as the writer of the Song of Solomon.
No attempt is made to make rhymes, but very good effect is
produced by a sort of rhythmic prose and parallelism of
members. The Song of the Harper, which was written in
the reign of Antuf, recalls many of the sentiments expressed
in the Book of Ecclesiastes ; it points out that all things are
transitory, that generations come and go, and are as if they
had never been, that the sun rises and sets, that men beget
and women conceive, and the writer exhorts the listener to
make merry, to make love, to cast away all cares, and to enjoy
HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS. l6l
happiness until the day shall come when we have to set out for
the land “ which loveth silence.” Such songs were sung
probably in exactly the same manner in which the Egyptian
sings songs to-day, but music in the modern sense of the
term was unknown. Singers were accompanied by reeds and
flutes of various kinds, generally played by men, whilst women
beat tambourines or rattled sistra, the noise of which
served the double purpose of driving away evil spirits and of
making a pleasant sound. Harps, both large and small, were well
known and often used ; the number of strings varied between five
and ten. Speaking generally, the Egyptians were acquainted
with all the musical instruments which are mentioned in the
last Psalm (cl.). The famous Song of Pentaurt, the Poet
Laureate of the day, deals with the victory of Rameses II
over the Kheta, but it is so long that it must only have been
sung on ceremonial occasions.
History in the modern sense of the word was not written
by the Egyptians. They kept records of the order of succession
of kings, with the lengths of their reigns, and it is probable that
they possessed “Chronicles”; but so far as we know now no
i
connected history of the country was ever written except that
of Manetho, who was alive in the reign of Ptolemy II, and
I
compiled his work by the order of this king. Many kings, e.g 9 .
Thothmes III, Rameses II, Seti II, took care to have the annals
of their reign written. Biography is represented by numerous
funeral stelae, and inscriptions on the walls of tombs, which
supply a considerable amount of valuable historical matter.
j
The Egyptians possessed a useful group of compositions or

moral aphorisms and precepts, which inculcated the great
importance of a religious and moral life, and contained a
number of shrewd observations, sometimes expressed in long,
high-sounding phrases, and at other times in a few short,
pithy words. Many of the precepts in the works attributed to
Kaqemna and Ptah-hetep may for beauty of sentiment and
sound common sense be compared with the sayings in the
Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Proverbs, and Ecclesiasticus.
Travels are represented by the Story of Sanehat
(2500 b.c.); by the narrative of the Egyptian who visited Palestine
and gives an account of his travels in a letter to a friend ; by the
journey of Unu = Amen. who went to Palestine
record of the
to buy cedarwood to make a new barge for Amen, the great
god of Thebes, about 1100 b.c. and by the story of the
;
shipwrecked traveller who was cast upon a sort of enchanted

L
:
x 62 EGYPTIAN LAWS.
island, wherein dwells a monster serpent Under fiction

and fairy stories must be mentioned the Tale of the Two
Brothers, which consists of two tales that were originally sepa-
rate works the Story of the Predestined Prince
;
and the;
Story of the Peasant whose donkey was stolen, and who

appealed for its restoration to the local magistrate. This
officialwas so much interested and charmed by the learning of
the poor man that he caused the hearing of the case to be
continued through many days in order that he might enjoy the
learning and skill which the appellant displayed in conducting
his case. Fiction combined with magic is well illustrated by
the stories narrated in the Westcar Papyrus, to which reference
has already been made, and the Dialogue between a man
and his soul proves that the most learned of the Egyptians
sometimes indulged in philosophical contemplation.
The Egyptians were undoubtedly law-abiding people, and
yet we have up to the present found no copy of the code
of laws under which Egypt was administered and ruled.
Under the early dynasties justice was probably dispensed in
the rough-and-ready way which is so common in the villages
all over the East, i.e., the head of each village heard the
cases that were brought before him, and meted out summary
punishment for the offenders. The more difficult cases were
tried before a number of priests, who appear to have received
a salary for sitting as judges daily in the courts The two most
famous law cases of which any record has come down to us are
(i) The trial of the thieves who plundered the Royal tombs
at Thebes, and (2) the trial of the officials and others who
entered into a conspiracy to kill Rarneses III. On the first
the court at Thebes sat for several days, and the evidence
was abundant the sites of the robberies were visited, but
;
the higher officials made such conflicting statements that it

is impossible to see who was the real leader of the gang of
tomb robbers. It seems as if the Governor of Thebes and the

head keeper of the necropolis were both implicated, and that
they quarrelled and made misleading statements intentionally.
From this case we learn that torture was sometimes employed
to make unwilling witnesses speak. The second case was, it
seems, a harim conspiracy, which was not, however, tried in the
ordinary way, but by a special group of judges, selected no
doubt by the king ; the king refused to investigate the matter,
probably because he did not wish to condemn to death men
who had been his trusted friends and officials. The guilt of
,
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 163
many of those who were condemned was only too clear ; they
were condemned to death, but were permitted to die by suicide.
It is quite clear from the general testimony of the inscriptions
that the fundamental laws of Egypt were few, and it is equally
clear that they were very old ; mutilation, i.e., the cutting off
of a hand, the slitting or cutting out of the tongue, cutting off
the nose and ears, etc., was certainly the punishment for
murder, theft, slander, and even for lying under certain cir-
cumstances. Adultery and treason were punished with death.
A good idea of the sins and crimes which were held in
abomination by the ancient Egyptians can be obtained from
the CXXVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead In this we see
.
that 42 sins are enumerated, and that the deceased declares

to 42 gods that he has not committed them. These sins
include murder, manslaughter, adultery, and acts against
chastity, theft, arson, sacrilege, contempt of God, treason
against the king, anger, cruelty, deceit, hastiness of speech,
envy, hatred, etc., and they show under the XVIIIth
that,
dynasty at least, the conception of what a moral and religious
life should be was a very high one. The Egyptian idea of
law and right and truth was a straight line which was called
maat and any deviation from that line was sin the type;
of physical law was the path of the sun which was supposed
to have been laid down by Thoth and his female counterpart
Maat, and maat, i.e ., right and moral integrity, was the ideal
at which all good and pious Egyptians aimed.
We have now briefly considered the learning of the Egyptians,
i.e., the product of their minds, and we must now refer to
the skill and cunning which they displayed in their handi-
crafts, i.e., the product of their hands. In architecture the
Egyptians excelled all the other Oriental nations of antiquity
of which remains have come down to us. They devoted their
best energies to the building of tombs and temples, the
former as the everlasting abodes of the deified ancestors whom
they worshipped, and the latter as the houses wherein their gods
dwelt. In pre-dynastic times tombs were of a very simple
character, and they consisted of holes dug in the sand ; at a
later period such holes were lined with bricks or slabs of stone,
and eventually little houses were raised over such graves.
When the relatives and friends of the dead began to visit the
tombs the grave-house was made larger, and accommodation
was provided for those who wished to make offerings to the
dead. The pit for the body was sunk deeper and deeper as
;
164 EGYPTIAN TOMBS.
time went on, and when men had how to mummify the
learned
dead, a special room, or mummy chamber, came into use,
and stone sarcophagi
for the mummies of
the dead were placed
inside it. By this
time masons had
become skilled in
working stone, and
continuous employ-
ment resulted in
increased expert
knowledge.
The oldest form
of tomb building is
called mastabah by
the Arabs, because it
resembles in shape a
bench. The top is
flat, the sides slope
outwards slightly
the outsides of the Entrance to an Early Tomb.
walls are solidly built (From Prisse d’ Avenues.)
of well-cut stones, but
the cores of the walls
are made of masons’
rubbish. The masta-
bah is entered on the
east side, and the door
is sometimes orna-
mented with square
pillars. Inside are
a stele recording the
name and titles of
the deceased, an
altar for the offerings
of relatives and
friends, and often a
small chamber in- Pyramid Tomb with Funeral Chapel.
tended to hold the (From Prisse d? Avenues.)
statue of the de-
ceased. This is called the serdab, and it was connected by an
opening with the tomb, so that the ka, or double of the
)
EGYPTIAN TOMBS. * 65
deceased, might hear the prayers and enjoy the smell of the
incense and offerings. The pit leading to the mummy
chamber was square, and large enough to allow the mummy
and its sarcophagus to be passed down ; mastabahs were built
in rows with narrow passages between them, and thus a
cemetery of the IVth or Vth dynasty resembled a little town
of detached stone houses of the same shape built in rows.
Contemporary with the mastabah was the pyramid tomb,
the largest examples of which are to be seen at Gizah,
The mummy chamber was
built either below the centre
of the pyramid, or in it,
and was approached by
it
a slanting corridor, which

was provided with doors
arranged at intervals. Each
pyramid was provided with
a chapel in which funeral
services were performed by
a staff of priests. So long
as the dead had to be buried
in stony plains, mastabahs
and pyramids were the
classes of tomb most suit-
ablefor kings and noblemen,
but when, on account of the
great value of the land, the
dead had to be buried in
the hills, a modification of
the plan of the tombs of
the wealthy became neces-
sary. Between 3500 and
2500 b.c. pyramidal tombs
Plan of a Pyramid Tomb, with Vestb
bule, or Funeral Chapel, and corridor,
were built of brick, and
the whole enclosed by a wall. (From were from 15 to 20 feet
Prisse d Avenues.
}
high;
they were often sur-
rounded by a wall. On the
east side was a small porch, which took the place of the
chapel of the larger buildings, and here offerings were made
and prayers said on behalf of the dead. The next stage in
tomb building was to hew the chapel and shaft leading to the
mummy chamber, and the mummy chamber itself, out of the
solid rock, only the shaft was hewn horizontally instead of
i66 EGYPTIAN TOMBS.
perpendicularly. In the chapel or hall of such tombs a niche

was hollowed out for the statue of the deceased ; this niche
is the equivalent of the serdab of the tombs of the Ancient
Empire. Under the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties the kings

who ruled Egypt from Thebes built magnificent tombs, with
long corridors and several chambers, in the hills on the western
bank of the Nile. A
religious motive seems to have influenced
the architect in making his plans, and the tombs of the great
Pyramid Tomb with Funeral Chapel. The Core of the Pyramid is built
of Rubble. (From Prisse d' Avenues.)
became veritable copies of the Underworld as it was conceived

in the minds of the theologians of the day. All the main
features of the ancient tomb were carefully preserved, only the
arrangement was different, and this difference showed itself
most markedly in connection with the chapel. Instead of
building the funerary chapels at the entrance to the tombs in
the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, some kings built them
near the river, where they were easy of access, and where they
could be built in a style pf magnificence and size worthy of
EGYPTIAN TOMBS. 167
their builders. All royal

tombs appear to have been
built according to plans
approved by those for whom
they were made, and it results
as a matter of course that
hardly any two are alike in
detail or style of ornamenta-
tion.
After the XXV Ith dynasty
tomb architecture declined,
and kings and nobles had to
be content with relatively
small and ill-built tombs; all
the essential features were,
however, preserved, and the
dead were carefully hidden,
and the supply of offerings
at regular intervals was duly
provided for. When the
Egyptians became Christians
they built chapels above the
tombs of their saints, and
many of their ancient customs
were perpetuated when they ;
became Muhammadans they

did the same things, and the
numerous small buildings
over the graves of pious men
which are seen throughout
the length and breadth of the
land prove that the old ideas
of the soul visiting the tomb
are not yet extinct. At
Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and
Meroe in the Shdan are
numerous pyramids, most of
which were built after 700 b.c.
under the influence of the
priests of Amen, who took
refuge in Nubia after they
were driven out of Thebes.
These pyramids are different
;
i68 EGYPTIAN TEMPLES.
from the great pyramids of Egypt, for the stones of the

sides are much smaller, and the cores are made of loose
stones and sand which have been thrown inside the walls in a
dry In some which were opened by the writer for the
state.
Sirdar, Sir F. R. Wingate, K.C.B., in1902, the bodies of the
dead were found in rough-hewn chambers beneath the pyramids
no attempt had been made to mummify the bodies, which seem
to have been laid to rest in a kind of shirt* Under one
pyramid was found an earthenware jar of human ashes, which
prove that the body of the person for whom the pyramid was
made had been burned.
The temple, or God - house of the primi-
tive Egyptians was probably built of wood, and bricks

and stone were not used until a later period. The sites
chosen for the dynastic temples were “holy ground” from
the earliest historic times their names were, no doubt, changed
;
often, and different gods were worshipped in them as time

went on, but temple after temple was built on the same
site, although the reason why it was held to be sacred was
forgotten. One of the most interesting temples in Egypt is

the Temple of the Sphinx, which was discovered by Mariette
in 1853; opinions as to its age differ, but it is usual to con-
sider it to be the work of the Ancient Empire. It is a simple
building, and has little in common with the great temples
of the XVIIIth dynasty. The most important remains of an
Xlth dynasty temple at Thebes are those of the temple of
Menthu-hetep Neb-hep-Ra, which were excavated at Der al-
Bahari by Professor Naville and Mr. H. R. Hall in the winters of
1903-6. This temple was built about one thousand years before
the reign of Queen Hatshepet, the builder of the great temple
called Tcheser Tcheseru, i\e., “ Holy of Holies,” and, in some
respects, may have
served as the copy for the building which the
great Queen's architect Sen-Mut set up close by. Under the
Xllth dynasty the Thebans founded, or may-be re-founded, the
temple of Amen, the local god of Thebes, at the place now
called Karnak. The building at this period was relatively a small
one, and in the centre of it was a shrine, or perhaps small
chamber, which held a statue of the god. In later times,
when the power of the Theban princes increased, the temple
was enlarged, new courts with pylons were added by successive
kings, more land was enclosed about the temple, large numbers
of massive columns were set up in the courts, and larger and
EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. 169
finer obelisks Less important temples during

were introduced.
the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties consisted of a rectangular
building, with a colonnade running round all four sides, and
17 ° EGYPTIAN MUSICIANS.
Musicians.
Avenues.)
(P
Female
Prisse
of
(From
Group
A
SPHINXES AND PYLONS. 171
shrine containing the statue or emblem of the god. It is

uncertain how far such temples were intended for public use.
The temple buildings
an open courtyard
usually consisted of — (1) Pylons;
(2) ; (3) a hypostyle hall ; (4) a shrine,
set up in the sanctuary, which could be shut off from all the
other parts of the temple. A
broad path, or dromos, brought
the worshipper to the first pylon; on each side of it was a
row of man-headed or animal-headed sphinxes, which no
doubt represented the guardian spirits of the place. These
are to be compared with the colossal man-headed bulls and
lions which flanked the doorways of Assyrian palaces ; the
inscriptions state definitely that they “ protected the footsteps”
of the king who made them. The pylon consisted of a
massive doorway and two towers these in times of festival
:
were decorated with painted poles, from which floated coloured

flags or streamers. A colossal statue of the king and an
obelisk stood at each side of; the doorway, and sometimes
several statues of the king were arranged, at intervals, along
the front walls of the pylon. The pylon* with its statues and
obelisks, is probably the most characteristic feature of Egyptian
temples. On three sides of the open court was a colonnade,
which was used as a kind of bazaar by those who sold to the
public things required for the worship of the gods. The
hypostyle hall was. entered through another pylon ; here the
offerings were brought, and here the portion of the temple to
which the public had free access came to an end. Beyond
lay the sanctuary with the shrine of the god in it, and round
about were several small chambers in which the dresses of the
gods and temple property of a portable character were kept.
#
The ritual of Amen was very elaborate, and the ceremonies

performed in connection with it were exceedingly numerous,
so numerous in fact that if the king assisted at them daily
he would have no time to administer the affairs of his country.
The shrine of the god was kept closed, and to be allowed to
see the face of the deity was regarded as the greatest privilege
which the worshipper could enjoy. Every large temple had
a lake within its precincts ; in it the worshippers performed
their ablutions, and on its waters the processions of sacred
boats were held.
A great many religious festivals were observed by the
Egyptians, and it is probable that in the course of the
year numerous services were held to which the public were
admitted for praise and prayer. The details of temple
172 EGYPTIAN PILLARS.
Upper Part of a Pillar with ornate Lotus Capital.
(From Prisse d' Avenues.)

EGYPTIAN PILLARS.
pper 1 art of a Pillar of Rameses II, with Palm Capital and Square Abacus.
(From Prisse d' Avenues,)
)
74
EGYPTIAN PILLARS*
Pillarwith Hathor-headed Capital, Pillar with Hathor-headed Capital

setup by Amen-lietep III. of the Ptolemaic Period.
P
(From Prisse Avenues. P
(From Prisse Avenues.)
ROCK TEMPLES. 1 7
construction varied as much as those of tombs, a fact which

the traveller can easily verify for himself. Then, as now,
the plans of religious edifices were modified according to
circumstances and the means at the disposal of the builders.
The temples built of sandstone in the Ptolemaic period form
a class by themselves, but all the essential parts of the
Pharaonic temples were preserved ; the examples of these
which still stand suggest that they lack the stately dignity of the
buildings of the olden
time. The rock =
hewn temples of
Bet al-Wali, near
Kalabshah, and Abft
Simbel, some 40 miles
north of Wadi Halfah,
and Gebel Barkal at
the foot of the Fourth
Cataract, also form a
class by themselves.
Egyptian temples
have in all ages called
forth the admiration of
beholders, and there
is no doubt that those
who designed and
built them were
masters of the art of
producing great and
solemn effects in the
minds of the people.
The mere thought of
the labour involved in
Plain Palm-leaf Capital of a Pillar, with quarrying and hewing
Square Abacus. the huge blocks of
(From Prisse d' Avenues.) granite, limestone, and
sandstone used in their
construction, anddragging them to their destination, is well-
in 1
nigh overpowering, and forces one to consider what the social

state of Egypt could have been at the time they were built.
The men who made these mighty buildings were forced to do
so, and all that the king or state contributed towards the
expenses was the food of the workmen. The supply of
labour was practically unlimited, there was no public opinion
1 76 OBELISKS*
to control the monarch’s desires, neither time nor material

represented money, and the taskmasters were active and
insistent. The examination of Egyptian buildings by archi-
tectural experts has revealed the existence of many faults in
construction, and of much bad work, especially in the matter
of the foundations ; but it is impossible not to wonder why
all the work done under such conditions is not bad* Another
thing to remember is that no mighty cranes or pulleys, or
other machines on a
large scale, were used
in building either
pyramids or temples,
and that every appli-
ance in the Egyptians’
hands was of the
simplest character.
The wedge, the lever,
the roller, inclined
planes made of sand
or palm trunks, repre-
sented most of their
mechanical contri-
vances ; all else was
human and animal
force. Many writers
have declared that
the obelisks which
are still to be seen in
Egypt could never
have been set up
without the aid of
complicated and very
powerful machinery, Ornate Palm-leaf Capital of a Pillar, with
but we know that the Square Abacus.
Egyptians had no (From Prisse d' Avenues.)
such machinery.
Blocks of granite intended for obelisks and monolithic
statues were separated from the quarry bed by means of
series of wedges driven into slots cut in the stone ; a
raft of timber was built under each block, and when the
inundation came, both raft and block were floated out by a
canal from the quarry into the Nile, and thence down the
river to their destination. When the rough-hewn block had
)
OBELISKS. 177
been placed in the
position it was in-
tended to occupy, the
cutting,and shaping,
and polishing began,
the inscriptions be-
ing added last of all.
Obelisks varied from
60 to 105 feet in
and weighed
height,
from 50 to 250 tons ;
they illustrate, per-
haps, better than
anything else the
power of work which
the fellahin of Egypt
have always pos-
sessed.
Ornate Palm-leaf Capital of a Pillar, with Square

Abacus. (From Prisse d' Avenues.)
Capital of a Pillar with Inverted Ornamentation. Hathor-headed Capital.

{ f rom Prisse Avenues )
, (From Prisse d’ Avenues .
M
178 EGYPTIAN HOUSES.
The houses of the upper middle class inhabitants of

ancient Egypt were pretty much what they were a century or
so ago, that is to say, they
were built chiefly of sun-
dried mud bricks, in two
storeys, with small windows
cut high up in the walls, and
flatroofs, and surrounded
by a wall. All round the
house was ground which was
laid out as a garden, in
rectangular patches of a
convenient size for watering,
and near it were huts or
small rooms in which the
servants or slaves lived ; a
portion of the garden con-
tained palms and pome-
granate trees, and if it were
large enough to include a
small lake a number of
flowering plants would ap-
pear in it. The outside of
the house was whitewashed,
and the walls of the rooms
were distempered in some
pretty colour the doors
;
were of wood, panelled and

perhaps inlaid with different
coloured woods. The court-
yard was probably tiled,
especially that portion of it
where the frame for the

water jars stood. The well-
to-do farm, like a good
house, was rectangular, and
was built with strong mud-
brick walls ; it stood within
an enclosure with mud walls,
inside which the donkeys
and cattle were brought when
necessary. The dwellings Pillar with Lotus-bud Capital,
of the very poor, both in (From Prisse d' Avenues.)
BAS-RELIEFS AND PAINTING. 179
the towns and in the country, were merely mud hovels,

and the dirt, squalor, and misery of their inhabitants must
have been what they are in many parts of the Ottoman
Empire at the present day. Kings and nobles no doubt built
imposing palaces and mansions, which were decorated within
and without, and were furnished with everything that the
civilization of the day could provide. The King’s palace was
often attached to the temple, and it appears to have consisted
of two or more courtyards, inside each of which a number of
small rooms were grouped after the manner of a khan or
Oriental inn each courtyard was entered through a gateway,
;
sometimes made in the form of a pylon, and sometimes in the

form of the gate of a fortress. The outer courtyard contained
the rooms where state functions were celebrated and business
transacted, and in the inner were probably the king’s private
apartments, and the rooms wherein the royal ladies lived. Of
the public buildings very little is known, but it is safe to
assume that the barracks and prisons much resembled those
which were to be found in Egypt before the rule of the British.
In recent years more burnt bricks are used than formerly.
The frames of both windows and doors are made of wood ;
glass is used freely, double roofs are common, and, as a result
of stricter supervision, the modern Egyptian artisan turns out
better work.
We have now to consider how tombs and temples were
ornamented, and this brings us to the mention of bas = reliefs
and painting. The earliest decoration consists of series of
figures of men, animals, etc., traced or cut in outline upon a
prepared surface ; this surface may be either stone made
smooth or stone covered with a layer of white plaster, on
which the figures are traced in coloured outline. In another
form of wall decoration the whole figure is hollowed out and
—
coloured in fact, is given in sunk relief. In the bas-relief the
above the rest of the surface of the
figures are raised a little
slab. The weak part of all these kinds of ornamentation is
caused by the fact that the painter and mason, or rather the
i artist who set out the plan of decoration, tried to show every
portion of the body. Thus, though the head is given in profile
the eye is represented as if the figure were in a full-faced
position. Afront view is given of the shoulders, but the view
of the other portions of the body is a mixture of profile and
full-face. This was the traditional and conventional method of
drawing figures of men and animals, and the majority of artists
m 2
l8o EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
followed it in every period of Egyptian history. Unfortunately

it gives us a false idea of the ability of the Egyptian artist, who,
when he was not hampered by this false method, was able to

produce paintings and reliefs which are wonderfully true to
nature, and correct according to canons of art. Occasionally,
even in solemn scenes, we find an artist treating some minor
figure or detail of a scene in a purely realistic manner, and it is
impossible not to wonder why, since he possessed such artistic
skill, he was content to go on repeating mechanically the old
pictures in a manner which belonged to the period of the

beginning of Egyptian art. It is surprising, too, to note the
sameness of the scenes depicted, and the paintings in the
tombs suggest that every man who could afford a decorated
tomb did exactly the same things during his life. We have
sacrificial scenes, agricultural scenes, hunting scenes, etc., all
repeated with such tiring monotony that it suggests the
existence of a body of funeral artists and workmen who were
prepared to turn out a given style of tomb with its stereotyped
wall paintings at a fixed price. In spite of all these defects,
however, there exist numerous paintings and bas-reliefs, and
portrait figures which prove that the Egyptian could be a true
artist, and it is a matter for regret that the names of the great
painters of the Ancient Empire are unknown.
In the reign of Amenhetep IV a vigorous attempt was
made to set art free from the shackles of tradition and con-
ventionality, but the paintingsand drawings from Tell al-‘Amarna,
where this king founded his new capital and lived for several
years, do not reflect the best and truest form of Egyptian art, and
it is evident that even the figures of the king himself are cari-
catures. In addition to new designs the artists of the day

introduced new colours, but these became synonymous with
heterodoxy, and after that king’s death they are seen no more.
Under the XIXth dynasty Egyptian art improved in some
respects, but deteriorated in others, and it is only from isolated
examples that we see that the realistic element was not wholly
dead. Under the Priest-Kings of the XXIInd dynasty the
realistic element was crushed, and every court artist copied
ancient models in a slavish manner.
The sculptor was fettered as much as the painter, and his
style and methods were hampered by the kind of work which
he had to turn out. His employers were chiefly powerful
priestly corporations, which employed his services in making
statues of gods and kings for the temples. The gods were
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE. 181
portrayed in traditional attitudes, and as long as the sculptor

gave his work dignity, and an appearance of massive strength,
combined with impassibility, nothing further was required of
him. In the case of royal statues intended for public exhibition
it was necessary for him to follow precedent, and to represent
the king in a simple attitude of sitting or standing, of which

dignity and repose of features are the chief characteristics.
The sculptor worked according to a canon of proportion which
was fixed in very early times, and, except in the matter of
private “commissions,” he was obliged to follow it blindly, just
as the painter was obliged to repeat scenes which he knew to
be full of bad drawing. Frequently, however, we find statues
which for beauty and fidelity to life cannot be surpassed, and
we can only wonder how it was that the rulers and priests of
Egypt allowed so many rigid and formal statues and figures to
pass as portraits of themselves. The visitor to the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo has only to compare the famous wooden
figure of the Shekh aUBalad, and the hard stone statue
of King- Khephren, with many which he will see near them
to realize the marvellous power to portray faces which the
sculptors of these works possessed. As a rule, the best work
of the sculptor is displayed in the statues and figures of private
persons, and when we consider what beautiful work is executed
in the hardest kinds of stone, e.g., diorite, quartzite, granite,
red, grey, and black, few will deny that the best of Egyptian
painters and sculptors must be reckoned among the greatest
artists of antiquity. The wonder is that the colossus of
religious traditions and conventionality did not crush art
entirely.
In the earliest times the walls of tombs and temples were
bare, except for a few inscriptions ; later, figures of men,
animals, &c., appear on the walls, either traced in outline or
in sunk relief. Under the Vth dynasty every available space
in the tomb was occupied with scenes and texts painted in
bright colours, and the ceilings were ornamented with floral or
geometrical patterns. Under the Xlth and Xllth dynasties
the interiors of temples were decorated with scenes connected
with the worship of the gods, or with representations of the
king making offerings, &c. Under the XVIIIth and following
dynasties the outsides of the temples were decorated with
inscriptions recording the prowess of the king in battle, and
with scenes illustrating the most important incidents of his
wars. The insides of the temples, however, were reserved
182 metal work, jewellery, etc.
chiefly for representations of a religious character, and these

afford much information concerning temple ritual. In the
case of Ptolemaic temples the religious element is predominant
in all the texts and scenes, both inside and outside, and at
Philae illustrations are found of ancient Egyptian legends,
which are extremely rare. Everything connected with the
architecture and art of the Egyptians proves that they
possessed the capacity of taking infinite pains, and that in
order to produce beautiful things they gave an amount of
time, thought, and work which it is almost impossible to
conceive.
The limited space at our disposal only permits the briefest
reference to the artistic skill displayed by the Egyptians in the
objects of daily life, clothes, ornaments, jewellery, &c.
In the manipulation of flax they attained a high pitch of
perfection at a very early period, and the “ fine linen of
Egypt” became proverbial among the nations. Since every
Egyptian wore linen garments, and mummies were swathed
in voluminous linen wrappings, the quantities of linen fabrics
required for native use must have been enormous. Flax
growing and linen weaving must have formed, next to
agriculture, the principal occupation of the working popula-
tion. The salmon-coloured linen of Egypt was pretty, and
the ornamental edgings, usually in some subdued colour,
and the fringes are in excellent taste. Few, if any, nations
have equalled the Egyptians in the fineness of their work,
and weaving experts have declared that no modern manu-
facturer has succeeded in weaving so many threads to the
inch as the ancient Egyptian. The skill possessed by him in
the working* of metals is another matter for wonder, for
even in the Vlth dynasty he was able to cast in bronze large
statues of his kings ; these were cast in sections, and
it is clear that he understood the operations of smelting and
mixing metals, and the making of moulds and castings. His

skill must not be judged by the statues of gods and kings
which have come down to us in gold, silver, and bronze, but
by the objects found in the tombs of private individuals. The
jewellery is best illustrated by the ornaments, collars, neck-
laces, pendants, rings, amulets, &c., which were found in the
royal tombs at Dahshur, and by the gold objects of various
kinds from the tomb of Queen Aah-hetep. All these are in
the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Many of the personal
ornaments are inlaid with carnelian, lapis-lazuli, the root of
POTTERY. I8 3
emerald, or with plaques of faience or Egyptian porcelain ; it is

,
often declared that the art of enamelling was practised in

Egypt, but the evidence on which this assertion rests is not
conclusive. Extraordinary skill is exhibited in the inlaying
of objects with linear and floral designs in gold, one of the
finest examples of this kind of work being the spear-head of King
Karnes, about 1750 b.c. The potter’s art is one in which the
Egyptian has always excelled, and even at the present day,
if the demand existed, there is nothing which is made of mud
or clay that he would not quickly produce. The pottery

from the excavations which have been made during the last
fifteen or twenty years on pre-dynastic sites in Egypt, proves
that the primitive inhabitants of the land made their earthen-
ware vessels without the help of the potter’s wheel. They
were, at first, small in size and undecorated, and were probably
used chiefly for funereal purposes. At a very early period the
Egyptians discovered how to make their pottery black and
shiny, and later they began to decorate them with incised
patterns, and to paint their outer surfaces with a white slip.
At a still later period they succeeded in making jars to hold
wine, unguents, and grain, or flour, of a large size, some of
them being about three feet high. With the advent of the
dynastic Egyptians, it became the fashion to use funereal
vessels made of stone instead of earthenware, and of these
large collections are to be seen in the National Museums of
Europe. The stones used in making such vessels are granite,
basalt, breccia, diorite, quartzite, marble, and alabaster of all
kinds, &c. These are cut and shaped and smoothed and
polished with extraordinary skill, and in many cases the forms
of the vessels are exceedingly graceful. The small vessels,
e.g., unguent flasks and vases for scents, which were made
during the Archaic Period are very pretty, and the necks and
handles prove that the skill of the stone-worker at that time
was very great.
CHAPTER XIV.
A List of the Names of the Principal Egyptian
Kings.
The visitor to Egypt who takes an interest in the ancient
Egyptian monuments will notice on the obelisks, walls of
temples, &c., the frequent occurrence of the oval c >
with a number of hieroglyphics inside it ; to this oval the
name cartouche has been given, and the characters inside
it form the name of some royal personage. The suggestion
that cartouches contained royal names was first made by
Zoega in the last quarter of the 18th century. Cartouches
carefully cut in stone show that the object which encloses the
name is in reality a cord, which is tied in a knot at one end,
and it seems that the knotted cord was believed in early times
to protect the royal name, and therefore the royal personage
who bore it. Cartouche in Egyptian is called Shennu
^ O (£
/WWW
Q
and its oldest form is circular, as we see from
the scene on the vase of King Besh, whose name is written
on it in a circle thus This circle symbolized the
shen ^
AA/WAA
Q or circular course of the sun about the universe,
and when the king’s name was written inside it, the meaning
was that the king was the representative of the Sun-god, that
his rule extended to every part of the course of the sun, and
that both he and his name would, like the sun, endure for ever.
The texts prove that in the dynastic period a king possessed
five royal names
or titles. Thus the Horus = name of
Amasis “Uah-ab”; his Nebti = name was “Neb-
II was
khepesh his Horus = of=gold name was “ Seuatch-Taui ”
” ;
;
his Suten bat name was “ Haa-ab-Ra ” and his Son = of=Ra ;
name was “ Uah-ab-Ra.” The Horus-name, or Ka=name

as it is sometimes called, was written in a rectangular
space which is called serekh Some think
that the serekh represented a “ sort of banner,” or “ cognizance,”

EGYPTIAN TITLES. 185
but it is tolerably certain that it represented the funerary abode
in which the Ka, or double of the king, lived. In the earliest

times, when the Hawk-god Horus was the chief object of worship
in the country, the king, as his representative on earth, took a
special title, just as in later days, when Ra took the place of
Horus, the king assumed a new title as the Son of Ra. The title
“ lord of [the shrine of] the vulture, lord of [the shrine of] the
uraeus dates from the time when the city of Nekhebet

in Upper Egypt and of Per-Uatchet in Lower Egypt represented
the two great ecclesiastical divisions of Egypt. In the king
lists it is common to give the name of a king as King' of the
South and North suten bat ,

and his name as the son of
Sa Ra, and in inscriptions on monuments, etc.,
two cartouches will usually be found whenever the king’s names
are mentioned, thus

^ ^ zi
In modern books the first cartouche is said to contain the
prenomen, and the second the nomen. The earlier kings bore
short, simple names, as “ Kings of the South and North,” e.g.,
Mena (Menes)
l ~~ J
TetA °(] etc. in the XVIIIth and

>wvw\
(j,
1 a 1
, ;
later dynasties they became much longer, e.g., Usr-khau-Ra-

setep-en-Ra-meri-Amen (Set-Nekht), Kheper-sekhet-Ra-setep-
en Ra (Osorkon I.). Kings sometimes prefixed to their car-
touches the titles Neter nefer beautiful god,” neb

it
taui ‘lord of the two lands,” i.e., “lord of the South
and North,” neb-khau ,

“lord of diadems.” etc. The
III’
title Pharaoh which we find in the Bible, is derived
L~ _J
from the Egyptian Per-aa ,
and means “ Great House ” ;
* means “ King of the South,” and “ King of the North.

^
—
i86 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS.
it indicates that the king was regarded as the “ Great House ”

in which all men lived. In late times this title was loosely
used, and was often given to, or usurped by, petty rulers and
governors, who had no right at all to style themselves Pharaoh.
The following is a list of the prenomens and nomens of
Egyptian kings which are of common
occurrence, with trans-
literations into Roman letters. The
hundred or so belong
first
to the period which begins with Mena, the unifier of the two
Egypts, and ends with Nectanebus II., the last native king of
Egypt ; these are found on scarabs as well as on monuments
of all kinds. The remainder of the cartouches contain the
names and titles of the Ptolemies and of a number of Roman
Emperors :
Dynasty I.
cr0 «CEP
MenA. Atet.
^
(
\\
Dl
&
o. <=>
^0 n
|
WWW
Sem-ti. Per-Ab-sen.
Dynasty III.
Nefer-ka-Ra, son of the Sun, Huni.
Dynasty IV.
.
Seneferu. Khufu. (Cheops.)
( 1
3
Kha-f-Ra. (Chephren.) Men-kau-Ra. (Mycerinus.)
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS. I 87
Dynasty V.
Sajj-u-Ra.
i© r n N
AAAAAA
Usr-en-Ra, son of the Sun, An.
UnAs.
Dynasty VI.
Meri-RA,
¥ QJQ
son of the Sun, Pepi (I.).
? O
\. /WWNA A
I® Mer-en-Ra,
Nefer-ka-Ra,
son of the Sun,
¥ G5]
son of the Sun, Tepi
Mehti-em-sa-f.
(II.).
Dynasty XII.
Sehetep-Ab-Ra,
¥ Q= O
son of the Sun,

±jl
Amen-em-hat
!\
(I.).
i u]
Kheper-ka-Ra
¥ dfr]
son of the Sun, Usertsen (I.).
^
1 88 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS.
Nub-kau-Ra,
^
son of the Sun,
(S3
Amen-em-hat (II.).
(g a LA
O
fin— ^ *wws
X
Kheper-kha-Ra, son of the Sun, Usertsen (II.).
Kha-kau-Ra,
¥
son of the Sun,
cmUsertsen (III.).
mC
Cl *£* \
co
AA/WV
TvVV .'1
¥1
J\ ¥ QSE3
Maat-en-Ra, son of the Sun, Amen-em-hat (III.)
MCDSEI Maa-kheru-Ra,
¥ Cckfl
son of the Sun, Amen-em-hat (IV.).
Sebek-neferu-Ra.
Dynasty XIII.
a <=> v_
Ra-sekhem (P)-khu-taui Sebek-:hetep
D (I.).
Sekhem-seuatch-taui-Ra
¥
son of
Oiô]
Sebek-i?etep (II.).
the Sun,
« C° a U ¥
Kha-nefer-Ra, son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep (III.).
]
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS. 189
mCi Oi
f OS ^ J ¥
Kha-hetep-Ra, son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep (IV.).
m €1 ¥
Kha-ank:h-Ra, son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep (V.).
w, Gli’mj
Sekhem-uatch-khau-Ra,
¥ C-k*]
son of Sebek-em-sa-f (I.).
the Sun,
Sekhem-shet-taui-Ra, son of Sebek-em-sa-f (II.).

the Sun,
Kiiu-taui-Ra, son of the Sun, Heru-nest-taui (?)
Dynasty XV.
&
Aa-peh-peh-Set,
O
son of the Sun,

G Nub-Set (?).
^
o. a C°
V P i — 'I
o
Se-user-en-Ra, son of the Sun, Khian.
Ka-Set-Ra.
Dynasty XVI.
1
Neter nefer
J
Beautiful god,
CHD Aa-Ab-taui-Ra,
^
son of the Sun, ApepA.
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS. I
9I
QLgu]
Aa-kheper-ka-Ra,
¥ CM?
son of the Sun, Tehuti-mes.
(Thothmes I.)
C5I3 ¥
Aa-kheper-en-Ra, son of
ml
Nefer-khau-Tehuti-mes.
the Sun, (Thothmes II.)
Maat-ka-Ra, son of the Sun,

C&HD
Hat-shepset-khnem-Amen.
(Queen Hatshepsu.)
O
Men-kheper-Ra,
J ¥ (MID
son of the Sun, Tehuti-mes.
(Thothmes III.)
CAlD
Aa-kheperu-Ra,
O
^^ ] ¥
(DM
1
Men-kheperu-Ra,
¥ (E3T0
son of
the Sun,
son of
the Sun,
MAmen-hetep neter heq
Annu. (Amenophis II.)
Tehuti-mes-kha-khau.
(Thothmes IV.)
Neb-maat-Ra, son of the Sun, Amen-hetep heq Uast.

(Amenophis III.)
1
SUTEN IJEMT
CM
Tl.
W
(The Mesopotamian wife of Amenophis III.)

192 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS.
M OIflX] ¥
Nefer-kheperu-Ra-ua- son of Amen-hetep neter heq
en-Ra, the Sun, Uast (Amenophis IV.).
a AVWSA
o jr
Khu-en-Aten.
/WW\A
Dl
w.
SUTEN HEMT URT NEFER NEFERU-ATEN NEFERTI-IT.
Royal wife, great lady.
&GMDI ¥Ankh-kheperu-Ra, son of

d^VD
Seaa-ka-nekht-kheperu-Ra
the Sun,
&OBI ¥ Neb-kheperu-Ra, son of the Sun, Tut-ankh-Amen heq

Annu resu (?).
Kheper-kheperu-maat-
bi ¥
Ari-Ra,
son of
the Sun,
csm
Atf-neter Ai neter
heq Uast.
AAMAA 1 ' _
Tcheser-icheperu-Ra- son of Amen-meri-en Heru-

setep-en-Ra, the Sun, em-heb.
Dynasty XIX.
idD fT ^
Men-pehtet-Ra, son of
2 O
the Sun, Ra-messu.

(Rameses I.)
names OP EGYPTIAN KINGS. *93
m ¥ C5H1E]
Men-maat-Ra, son of the Sun, Ptah-meri-en-Setl
(Seti I.)
Usr-maat-Ra setep-en-Ra,
v CMMD
son of Ra-messu-meri-Amen.
Ml
the Sun, (Rameses II.)
}
* G:iT]
SUTEN HEMT ASET-NEFERT. SUTEN MUT. Tut.
Royal wife, Royal mother,
I ±J
Ba-Ra-meri-en-Amen, son of Ptah-meri-en-hetep-her-
the Sun, maat. (Menephthah I.)
© Of
i“
ii '“ iii
/VNAAAA
i
y
W
t.
/"WWVA Pi 1
Men-mA-Ra setep-en-Ra, son of Amen-meses-heq-Uast.

the Sun, (Amen-meses.)
' . ^ I V y I AAAAM AAAAAAA ^ f\

Usr-kheperu-Ra-meri-Amen, son of the Seti-meri-en-Ptah.
Sun, (Seti II.).
m GMMI ¥ Khu-en-Ra setep-en-Ra,

c»iZl£i
son of the Ptai^-meri-en-sa-Ptah.
Sun, (Menephthah II.)
mghei ¥ gUsr-khau-Ra setep-en-Ra son of the Ra-meri Amen-merer

meri-Amen, Sun, Set-nekht.
(Set-Nekht.)
N
Dynasty XX.
Usr-maat-Ra-meri-Amen, son of the Ra-meses-heq-Annu.

Sun, (Rameses III.)
MG31ME3 ¥Usr-maat-Ra setep-en- son of the

GJiffi
Ra-meses-meri-Amen*
Amen, Sun, Ra heq maat.
(Rameses IV.)
Usr-maat-Ra s-kheper-
en-Ra,
¥
son of
the Sun,
Mi
Ra-mes-meri Amen-
Amen suten-f.
(Rameses V.)
mGV
=> ^ C°ii— Ifi
Ra-Amen-maat- son of the Sun, Ra-Amen-meses neter
meri-neb. £tEQ ANNU.
(Rameses VI.)
MCfiinAJ
Ra-usr-Amen-meri-
¥ (3MSTD
son of Ra-Amen-mRses-tA neter-
setep-en-Ra, the Sun, heq-Annu.
(Rameses VII.)
Ra-maat-usr-khu-en- son of the Sun, Ra-Amen-meses-meri-

Amen, Amen.
(Rameses VIII.)
I
^37 rn S
[
j
/WWV\
M
I
J
îiFf V Q ^ 1 /WVAAA^/[
Neb ta S-kha-en-Ra Meri- neb khau Ra-meses-sa-Pta#.

Lord of the Amen, lord of crowns, (Rameses IX.)
land,
MGEffl Nefer-kau-Ra setep* son of

(5 nn
Ra-meses-merer-Amen-
D
en-Ra, the Sun, kha-Uast (?).
(Rameses X.)
'<? oo»-f
Ra-kheper-maat setep-
1#
son of
CHW1
Ra-mes stiten (?) Amen.
en-Ra, the Sun, (Rameses XI.)
O
|UUX^
Men-maat-Ra setep-
en-Ra,
O
son of the
Sun,
IE
Ra-meses-merer-Amen kha
Uast (?) neter êq Annu.
(Rameses XII.)
Dynasty XXII.
-90 rnS WW/V*
jgr V ZJ
]
Kheper-êtch-Ra son of Amen-meri-Shashanq.
Setep-en-Ra, the Sun, (Shishak I.)
mG
Cl cz \
o
Sekhem-kheper-Ra son of Amen-meri UasArken.

setep-bn-Ra, the Sun, (OSORKON I.)
A
iQD ^ G
Usr-Maat-Ra, son of the Sun, Tekeleth.
N 2
196 NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS,
%
Ra-usr-maat setep-en- son of Amen-meri sa-Bast
Amen, the Sun, Uasarken.
(OSORKON II.)
D
^ 10 r ^ 1
'
d aaaaaaa
a r~°i
I
o, v
A ft
i
3 JET y i Q
AMMAA AWWAA
Khefer-sekhem-Ra son of the Amen-Ra-meri

setep-en-Amen, Sun, Shasha[nq].
(Shishak II.)
Hetch-Ra setep-en-Amen, son of

unii
Amen-meri Aset-meri
nf.ter heq Uast, the Sun, Tekelet.
(Taiceleth II.)
a °J 1_£I
Usr-maat-Ra
¥ Q
son of the Amen-meri-Shashanq heq
21 n
setep-en-Ra, Sun, NETER ANNU.
(Shishak III.)
n o V. | aaawaa /VWWV/J _/_J X. /WWW 4/ /TH ^ 1 I /j
Usr-maat-Ra setep- son of Amen-meri Pa-mAi.

en-Amen, the Sun, (Pa-mai.)
q o (All
Aa-kheper-Ra
¥
son of the
( mmiTI
Shashanq.
Sun, (Shishak IV.)
Dynasty XXIV.
a
King
( "u
Kashta.
=1
M g i l ^ GBD
(
°
Men-kheper-Ra, son of the Sun, P-ankhi.
O
MQZKEj ¥ Gli
Amen-meri P-ankhi, son of the Sun, P-ankhi.
Uah-ka-Ra, son of the Sun, Bakenrenf.

(Bocchoris.)
Dynasty XXV.
M( 8
l
Nefer-ka-Ra,
¥ ( HJ’fetL-Pj
son of the Sun, Shabaka.
(Sabaco.)
Tet-kau-Ra, son of the Sun, Shabataka.
Ra-nefer-tem-khu, son of the Sun. Tahrq.

(Tirhaicah.)
Dynasty XXVI.
Uaij-Ab-Ra, son of the Sun, PSEMTHEK.

(PSAMMETICIIUS I.)
M0E1 Nem-Ab-Ra,
¥
son of the Sun, Nekau. (Necho II,)
kGEEI Nefer-Ab-Ra, son of the Sun,

GHZ53 PsEmthek.
(PSAMMETICIIUS II.)
Haa-Ab-Ra,
¥
son of the Sun,
C;
Uah-Ab-Ra.
(Apries.)
Khnem-Ab-Ra,
¥
son of the Sun,
CFTSCl
Aahmes-sa-net.
(Amasis II.)
c. \ l /vww\ /]
Ankii-ka-en-Ra, son of the Sun, Psemthek.

(PSAMMETICHUS III.)
Dynasty XXVII.
mGM Mesut-Ra,
¥ CEtt:]
son of the Sun, KembAthet. (Cambyses.)
Ce
Settu-Ra,
1
¥ a
son of the Sun, Antariusha. (Darius
Hystaspes.)
Lord of two lands, Khshaiarsha. (Xerxes the Great.)
HQ Artakhshashas.
D
(Artaxerxes.)
Ra-meri-Amen, son of the Sun, Anterirutsha.

(Darius Xerxes.)
Dynasty XXX.
S-netchem-Ab-Ra son of the Nekht-Heru-hebt-meri*

setep-en-Amen, Sun, Amen.
(Nectanebus I.)
m CHuj ¥
Kheper-ka-Ra, son of the Sun, Nekht-neb-f.
(Nectanebus II.)
Dynasty XXXII.
VM ¥1
W, 0
etep-en-Ra-meri- son of the AleksAntres
Amen, (Alexander the Greai)
(MM]
Sun,
X37
H
neb taui Setep-en-Ra-
¥
son of the Phiuliupuas
meri-Amen, Sun, (PuiLir Arrhidaeus).
Ra-qa-Ab-setep-en-Amen, son of the AleksAntres.

Sun, (Alexander IV.)
Dynasty XXXIII., Ptolemies.
Setlp-en-Ra-merj son of the Ptulmis

Amen, Sun, (Ptolemy I. Soter t.)
:
fa*
1 I
Neter mut Bareniket.

Divine Mother (Berenice I.)
O
(«
Ra-usr-ka-meri-Amen, son of the Sun, Ptulmis.
(Ptolemy II. Philadelphus.)
LVil!
Sutenet sat suten sent suten
IZ
hemt neb
g taui Arsenat
Royal daughter, royal sister, royal wife, lady of the two lands (Arsinoe)
Suten
V sat
1
suten
is
sent
03 PlLATRA
3
Royal daughter, royal sister (Philotera).
O
w*
Neterui-senui-aa-en-Ra-setep-Amen-sekhem-en-ankh, son of the
(0 ](lfgill
Ptualmis ankh tchetta Ptah meri.
Ptolemy (III. Euergetes I.), living for ever, beloved of Ptah.
Heqt nebt
Q i)
^ ip a
taui, BA REN IK AT.
Princess, lady of the two lands, (Berenice II.)
m CM
N ETER U M E N K H U
I- I- A A Ptah
!
'U
J
-
ej-setep-en-Ra-usr-ka-Amen-sekhem-
-
ANKH,
o
son of the Sun, Ptualmis ankh tchetta Aset meri

Ptolemy (IV. Philopator,) living for ever, beloved of Isis.
P l
& ^
Suten sat suten sent hemt urt nebt taui
Royal daughter, royal sister, wife, great lady, lady of the two lands
QkMlD Arsinai
Arsinoe (III., wife of Philopator I.).
AAAAAA Ok
mm
Neterui-merui-[a]tui-aa-en-Ptah-setep-Ra-usr-da-Amen-sekheM’
ANKH,
son of the Sun, Ptualmis anich tchetta Ptah mere

Ptolemy (V. Epiphanes) living for ever, beloved of Ptah.
Ptolemy VI. Eupator, wanting.
}z
O 1
Suten sat sen hemt Qlauapetrat
Royal daughter, sister, wife, (Cleopatra I.).
m Qjisb;
Neterui-perui-aa-en-Ptaii-kheper-setep-en-Amen-Ari^Maat-Ra
¥
son of the Sun,
CffeOTa:
1 tualmis ankii tchetta Ptah meri.
Ptolemy (Y II. Philometor l.), living for ever, beloved of Ptah.
Sutenet sat suten

Psent
?
hemt
1
suten mut
^37
neb taui
Royal daughter, royal sister, wife, royal mother, lady of the two lands,
-
QlAuapetrat
(Cleopatra II. wife of Philometor I.),,
Ptolemy VIII. Philopator II. wanting.
D R & —
i (1 /WWW
X /VWM
A
Neterui-perui-aa-en-Ptah-setep-en-Amen-Ari-Maat-Ra-sekhem-
ANKH
son of the Sun, Ptualmis ankh tchetta Ptah meri.

Ptolemy (IX. Euergetes II.), living for ever, beloved of Ptah.
Suten net
King of North and South, lord of two lands,
Ci
Neterui-menkhui-mat-s-meri-netch-aa-Ptah-sekhem-setep-en-
Ra-Amen-Ari-maat
00 Q
Ra sa neb khau Ptualmis ankh tchetta Ptah meri.
son of the Sun, lord of Ptolemy X. (Soter II. Philometor II.).
diadems,
Suten net, Neterui-menkhui-aa-Ptah-setep-en-Ra-Amen-

King of North Ari-maat-senen-Ptah-ankh-en
and South,
son of the Ptualmis tchetu-nef Aleicsentres ankh tchetta Pta#

Sun. mew, Ptolemy (XI.) called is he Alexander, living for
ever, beloved of PTA33.
, n
? oa
Heqt
\>
neb taui
\>
C Erpa-ur-qebh-BAaArenekAt.
M n
&
Princess, lady of two lands, Berenice (III.).

Ptolemy XII. (Alexander II.), wanting.
0 0 /VW\AA
\\
WAAM Q
V —^
P-neter-n-aa-enti-nehem-Ptah-setep-en-Ari-maat-en-
Ra-Amen-sekhem-ankh
¥ GZMEMSM]
son of the Sun, Ptualmis ankh tchetta Ptah Aset meri.
Ptolemy (XIII.), living for ever, beloved of Isis and Ptah.
C
A 23 ^ 0
I
'
- .00
n
]
Neb taui Qlapetrat tchettu-nes Trapenet.
Lady of two lands, Cleopatra (V), called is she Tryphaena.
1
A
i;
Heqt taui Qluapeter.
Queen of two lands. Cleopatra (VII.)
Suten net neb taui

(M Ptualmis.
King of North and lord of two lands Ptolemy (XIV.)
South,
Ra sa neb khau Kiseres ankh tchetta Ptah Aset meri

son of the lord of C/esar, living for ever, of Ptah and
Sun, diadems, Isis beloved.
o
Suten net neb taui Auteqreter
King of North and lord ol two lands, Autqcrator,
South,
Ra
O
sa neb khau
111
GHH21D
Kiseres ankh tcheita Ptah Aset meri
Sun’s son lord of crowns, Caesar (Augustus), living for ever,
of Ptaq and Isis beloved.
(O
Os 0 O sill
Suten net neb taui Auteqreter Ra sa neb khau
Autocrator, son of the Sun, lord of
diadems,
c Tebaris Kiseres ankh tchetta

ED
Tiberius Cesar living for ever.
o
m (ML
Heq hequ Autekreter Ptah
<2
&
Aset-meri.
.i&as
0 son of the
King of kings, Autocrator, of Ptah and Isis beloved, Sun.
Qais Kaiseres Kermeniqis.

Gaius (Caligula) Cesar Germanicus.
e.
Clf
Suten net neb taui Auteqreter Kiseres

D
Autocrator C/esar,
S
Ra sa neb khau Qlutes Tibaresa.
Sun’s son, lord of crowns Claudius Tiberius.
0 V \> \> CTT:

Suten bat neb taui Heq hequ-setep-en-Aset meri Ptajj
King of North and lord of Ruler of rulers,chosen one of Isis,
South, two lands, beloved of Pta?,
NAMES OF EGYPTIAN KINGS, 205
/vWvV'
^ l\
sa Ra
Q III
neb khau
G p
IA
Autekreter AnrAni.
Sun’s son, lord of crowns, (Autocrator Nero).
Oj
D
Merques Autunes (Marcus Otho).
&Q C>
P: 0 <2 <rz^=
Sun’s son, lord of ENT KHU AUTUKRETER.

IClSERES
crowns, Cesar he who defendeth Autocrator.
Vitellius (wanting).
ffi
Suten net (?)
(ilISfcl Autukretur Kisares.
Autocrator Cesar.
£
A/W\A
“N
C " w D iS* j
Suten net (?) Uspisines ent khu.
Vespasianus, he who defendeth.
^37 0
I
Cto
Q _£=&.
Autekretur Tetis Keseres.

£ <=>£
Autocrator Titus Caesar.
s
30 S
r
2
2
Sun’s son, lord of Uspesines ent khu.
crowns, Vespasianus, he who defendeth.
,
o C o<2
© a
<5 |pg]
Autukretur Kiseres.
Autocrator Cesar.
S
2
Sun’s son, lord of TuMETINES ENT KHU.
crowns Domitianus, he who defendeth.
G
^V
Autukreter Kiseres son of the Sun,

¥
Autocrator Cesar.
CIEMMEI NERUAlS ENT KHU.

Nerva, he who defendeth.
o
Autukreter Kaiseres Neruaui.
Autocrator Cesar Nerva,
QOS 0 o —
5
s
Y37 2
the Sun’s
dM f aawim
Traianes ent khu Arsut Kermineqsa Ntekiqes.

h
,
1 A
.
all
^11
dd
son, lord Trajan, (Augustus) Germanicus Dacius.

of crowns, he who defendeth.
Of
O'
Autukreter Kiseres Trinus.
ist
Autocrator Cesar Trajan,
?Q 022 DD — o <=,
n — a ®j
*
C mwa J
the Sun’s son, lord of crowns. Atrines ENT KHU.

Hadrian, he who defendeth.
&
Suten hemt Sabinat Sebesta ankh tchetta.
Royal wife, Sabina, Sebaste living for ever.
^
o ^=5S5=f King of the North and South, lord of the world,
C
Autukreter Kiseres Tites Alis Atrins.
Autocrator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus,
50 2 /WWVA
0
^ 2 0© M o' -JPb •
©.
\AAA
WJ
the Sun’s son, Antunines Sebestesus Baus enti khui.
lord of crowns, Antoninus Augustus Pius, he who defendeth.
0'
=C © <
Autekreter Kaiseres,.
[[ im.
Autocrator Caesar,
2
2
the Sun’s son,
lord of crowns,
GSMltSl]
Aurelais Antinines ent khu ankh tchetta.
Aurelius Antoninus, he who defendeth, living
for ever.
Autekreter
Autocrator
Aulli Uara ankh tchetta

Aelius Verus, living for ever.
Cls
Autekretirs KisAures
Autocrator C/esar.
50^37
0 223
the Sun’s son, lord of crowns,
C
Kamtaus A-en-ta-nins enti khu
Commodus Antoninus.
/•/vww
^
Autocrator CiESAR
Sauris enti khu.

Severus.
Autocrator Caesar
ANTANENES ENT KHU.

Antoninus [Caracalla].
Autocrator Cesar
Kat enti khu.

Geta.
Autocrator Cesar
Taksas enti khu.

Decius.
The latest Roman Emperor whose names are found in hiero-

glyphics is Marcus Julius Philip, who reigned a.d. 244-249.
His names are found in the Temple at Esna under the follow-
ing forms :
—
209
CHAPTER XV.
Sketch of the History of Egypt from the Pre«
Dynastic Period to A.D. 1911.
The history of Egypt from the earliest times to the present
day must forconvenience of treatment be divided into a series
of Periods, for we have to consider briefly the Egyptians in the
Pre-Dynastic and Archaic Periods, under the Dynasties of
Pharaohs, and under the Persians, Macedonians, Romans,
Arabs, and Turks.
I.— THE PRE-DYNASTIC AND ARCHAIC

PERIODS.
Until comparatively recently all historians were compelled
to begin their accounts of Egypt with the reign of Mena, or
Menes, the first historical king of Egypt ; but, thanks to the
results of the excavations which have been made in Upper
Egypt, more especially at Nakadah, near Thebes, and in the
neighbourhood of Abydos, a considerable number of new facts
concerning the pre-dynastic inhabitants of Egypt have been
ascertained. We now know that for a very long period before
the reign of Mena the Nile Valley was occupied by a population
which lived chiefly by pastoral pursuits, fishing, hunting, etc.
Of their relations with the rest of the world we know nothing,
but it is most probable that they confined themselves to their
own country, from which, on account of its natural position, it
must always have been difficult to wander far. Their tools
and implements were made of flint, they wore skins, they lived
in rectangular mud houses or huts in the winter, and in the
open, behind reed fences, in the warmer weather. At first
they had no religious belief, but as their intelligence grew they
believed in spirits, and in later times in one supreme spirit or
god. In many respects they resembled the tribes now living
a little to the north of the Equator, especially in their
manners and customs. They had not the art of writing, and
therefore could not read. They possessed great skill in making
earthenware vessels, but the potter’s wheel was unknown to
them. Their burial customs were of a primitive kind, but
they undoubtedly believed in a future life of a very material
character ; they maintained men who were magicians by pro-
o
210 SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY.
fession,or “ medicine men/’ and several of their magical

customs descended uninterruptedly to their highly civilized
posterity. As among all primitive peoples, fighting for the sake
of loot, or water, or cattle, or women, was general, and the
country contained a large number of petty chiefs ; in process
of time certain chiefs were able to add largely to their lands,
and became kings of districts in consequence. These kings
had their territories between Behen, or Wadi Halfah, and the
Mediterranean Sea, and the most powerful of them were the over-
lords of the best ground for pasturing cattle, which began
near Thebes, the modern Luxor,- and extended northwards.
Gradually all the districts which lay between Behen and the
bifurcation of the Nile were regarded as forming one country,
and the Delta, or all the land bounded by the two great arms
of the river, as another.
These two countries have always constituted Egypt,
and the oldest name for the country in the inscriptions is
“The two lands’’ ^=\

c=
The physique of the inhabitants of
!
vi n
each of these great divisions has always differed considerably,
as likewise have their manners and customs ; the presence of the
mountains and deserts has greatly influenced the minds and
bodies of the dwellers in the Nile Valley proper, and the sea
and the neighbouring seafaring peoples have had a permanent
effect upon the people of the Delta. When the Egyptians had
learned to write, they represented the southern division of
Egypt by the papyrus plant, ,

or by ,
and the
^
northern division by the lotus plant, ,
or by the hornet
or wasp, thereforre. or represented the

^
whole country of Egypt. In very early times the king of the
southern division wore the u white crown,” Q ,

and the king
of the northern division the “ red crown,” As the

^ .
various chiefs of the different districts of each of these two

great divisions were always fighting for supremacy before they
were compelled to recognize the sovereignty of the over-lord of
each division, so at a very early period the over-lord of the
south and the over-lord of the north contended for the mastery
1
SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY. 2 1
of the whole country. Sometimes one was victorious, and

sometimes the other, but it seems that neither was able to
maintain supreme rule for very long. Whilst matters were
thus Egypt was invaded by foreigners from the south-east, who
conquered the country, and introduced into it many important
characteristics of their own civilization, which was of’ a far
higher character than that of the Egyptians. Under the
influence of the newcomers Egypt became an agricultural
country, and the manners and customs, beliefs, and social
condition of the people were greatly modified, at least so far as
the upper classes were concerned. The lands on each side of
the river were ploughed and sown with grain, experience taught
the people a system of irrigation, and the knowledge and the
art of brick-making, which were introduced by the foreigner,
enabled the native to build better houses for himself and his
gods. From a dabbler in mud he became a hewer in stone,
and his power of work and infinite patience enabled him to
carry out the ideas of his more civilized conqueror, who seems
to have allowed the people to keep their old beliefs and to
follow their old ways, provided they acknowledged his supremacy.
This state of things lasted for a considerable time, but at
length a king arose who was able to make and to keep himself
the master of the two great divisions of Egypt, and so it came
to pass that Egypt became one country, under one ruler, who
called himself “ lord of the land of the papyrus, and lord of the
land of the hornet (or wasp),” and as the symbol of his absolute
supremacy he wore the white and the red crowns united, thus
As king of the two great ecclesiastical divisions of
the country he styled himself i.e., “lord of the shrine
of Nekhebet (in the south), and lord of the shrine of Uatchet ”

(in the north). In later days we know that kings cut
on their thrones the design which signified “uniter
of the land of the papyrus and the land of the lotus.” When
the first “unifier of the two lands” ascended the throne of
Egypt the Pre-Dynastic Period ended.
As we have already said in the chapter on “The Learning
of the Egyptians,” the Egyptians made no attempt to write a
consecutive history of their kings, but we know that they kept
lists of them, and it seems that they grouped them according
o 2
212 SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY*
to their native cities.This fact is proved by the list of kings

which was compiled by Manetho the priest in the 3rd century
before Christ. According to the copies of this list which have
been preserved in the works of later writers, Manetho divided
the kings of Egypt into 30 dynasties, and as he probably had
very good authority for so doing, this division is adopted
here. The Ancient Empire is generally said to contain
n dynasties, the Middle Empire 8 dynasties, and the New
Empire 11 dynasties. The dates assigned to the dynasties
are substantially those of the late Dr. H. Brugsch Pasha.
II. — DYNASTIC PERIOD.

ANCIENT EMPIRE.
First Dynasty. From This, 4400 B.C.
The first “ unifier of the two lands ” was Mena, whom the
Greeks called Menes. He is said to have founded the city
of Memphis, which lay on the west bank of the Nile, a few
miles south of Cairo. He has been identified with a king
whose Horus name was Aha Q^l, and whose tomb has been
recently excavated at Nakadah, near Thebes, but the evidence
for this identification is inconclusive, as are the arguments
based on it, and it is doubted by several competent Egyptolo-
gists. The fifth king of this dynasty was Hesepti, or Semti,
fx/vo ^
>
.
mi
.
whose reign important events

.
in
....
connection with the
religionof Egypt took place. Semti was a worshipper of

and the rubric to one version of the LXIVth Chapter of
Osiris,
the Book of the Dead declares that the chapter was “found,”
i.e., rewritten or revised, in his reign. His name was formerly
read “ Hesepti,” and even now the modern reading “Semti”
is considered by some experts to be doubtful.
Second Dynasty. From This, 4 133 B.C.
In the reign of Kakau a sanctuary of the Apis Bull was

founded at Memphis, and a sanctuary of the Mnevis Bull
was founded at Anu, or Heliopolis, the On and Aven of the
Bible (Genesis xli, 45, 50; Ezekiel xxx, 17). Of priests of
Sent, another king of this dynasty, monuments are preserved
in Cairo, the British Museum, and Oxford.
DYNASTIES III AND IV. 213
Third Dynasty. From Memphis, 3966 B.C.

The most important king of this dynasty was Tcheser, who
built the famous Step Pyramid at Sakkarah a tomb of
;
this king was discovered by Mr. J. Garstang at Bet Khallaf

in T901. Under this dynasty the nobles built solid,
rectangular tombs, to which the name mastabah has been
given. The glazed tiles from the pyramid of Tcheser prove
that the Egyptians of this period were skilled in making faience,
and the tombs show that the arts of the mason and builder
were well understood, and that the cult of dead ancestors had
been systematized, and had reached a very advanced state. A
legend cut on a rock on the Island of Sahal in the First
Cataract states that in the reign of this king there was a seven
years’ famine in Egypt. According to this the people had
neglected the temple of Khnemu, the god of the First Cataract,
and had failed to bring the proper supply of offerings to him.
'Therefore he caused Hep, the Nile-god, to withhold the Nile-
flood for seven successive years, and the “ famine was sore in
the land.” Tcheser undertook to re-endow the temple of
Khnemu, and as soon as this was done the Nile-flood appeared
as usual, from out of the two “ Qerti ” or “ Caverns,” through
?
which it flowed from heaven into Egypt.
Fourth Dynasty. From Memphis, 3733 B.C.

Under this dynasty the Pyramids of Gizah, which were
reckoned among the Seven Wonders of the World, were built.
The first king of the dynasty was Seneferu, the builder of
I the Pyramid of Medfim, and of a pyramid at Dahshur ;
he
made an expedition into the Sudan, or Land of the Blacks,
and brought back 7,000 prisoners, /.<?., slaves, and 200,000
i animals. This is the oldest example of slave raiding in
the Sitdan on record. Khufu, or Cheops, built the Great
Pyramid Khafra, or Khephren, built the second pyramid at
;
Gizah ;
and Menkaura, or Mycerinus, built the third pyramid
: at Gizah. During the reign of the last-named king a further
revision of certain chapters of the Book of the Dead took place ;
j
'
fragments of his body and a portion of his coffin are in the

British Museum. Under this dynasty the copper mines of
Sinai were worked again. An inscription of the XVIIIth
dynasty mentions the Sphinx in connection with Khufu, and
it therefore seems as if this wonderful monument was in
eNistence under the IVth dynasty.
;
Filth Dynasty. From Elephantine, 3566 B.C.

Sahu-Ra and Ra-en = user each built a pyramid at
Abusir, and Unas built at Sakkarah a pyramid, with corridors
that attached it to an older funereal edifice, on the inside
of which are long and important religious inscriptions. They
are of Heliopolitan origin and are the oldest religious texts
known in Egypt, and throw much light on the beliefs of the
early Dynastic Egyptians. They subsequently became the
foundation of the great Theban funerary work which was known
as the “ Chapters of coming forth by (or, from) day,” and is
now commonly called the Book of the Dead. The statues,
reliefs, and painting exhibit under this dynasty a beauty and
fidelity to nature never before reached by the artist and sculptor,
but with the end of the dynasty art, in all its branches, began
to decline. About this time the cult of B.a assumed a very
prominent place in the worship of the Egyptians, and the kings 1
of the Vth dynasty were the first to add the title “ SaRa,” i.e.,
“ son of Ra,’ 5 t0 ot her names.
Sixth Dynasty. From Memphis, 3300 B.C.

The four greatest dynasty, Teta, Pepi I,
kings of this
Pepi II, and Mer = en = Ra, each built a pyramid at Sakkarah
the walls of the corridors and chambers inside them are
covered with religious inscriptions, similar to those in the
pyramid of Unas ; the latest pyramid is less well built than
the others, and the workmanship suggests want of resources
and unsettled times. In this period Una, a high official, was
sent into Nubia on tw o or three trading missions. Her-Khuf, the
T
son of the Governor of Abu, or Elephantine, also made several

expeditions, chiefly for trading purposes, into the Sfidan. On
one of these he emulated the exploits of the official Ba-ur-tet,
who flourished during the reign of Assa, and brought back from
the Southern Sudan a pygmy, which he subsequently, by the
orders of Pepi II, sent to the Court at Memphis. Her-Khuf
caused a copy of the king’s letter to him to be cut upon a slab
in his tomb ; this slab is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
In some respects Egypt, under the Vlth dynasty, was in a
flourishing condition.
Seventh Dynasty. From Memphis, 3100 B.C.

Eighth Dynasty. From Memphis, B.C.
. . .
So far as we know, the kings of these dynasties did nothing

DYNASTIES V-XI. 215
to improve the condition of the country, and they carried

out neither wars nor works. Under their rule the governors
of the districts near Herakleopolis succeeded in gaining their
independence, and they became the ancestors of two dynasties
of kings who ruled Egypt from this place. Monuments
of some of the kings of this dynasty have been recently
discovered at Coptos.
Ninth Dynasty. From Herakleopolis, . . . B.C.

Tenth Dynasty. From Herakleopolis, . . . B.C.
The best-known kings of this period are Khati I, who is
commemorated by an inscription in the First Cataract, where
he worked the quarries, and Ka = meri = Ra, in whose reign
Khati, a prince of Asyftt, lived. Khati I, and his son, Tefaba,
and his grandson, Khati II, sent men to fight against the
princes of the South, who were making war on the Herak-
leopolitan kings, and defeated them. The Xth dynasty came
toan end amid strife and civil war with the downfall of the
;
kings of Herakleopolis the period known as the x\ncient

Empire really came to an end.
Eleventh Dynasty. From Thebes, . . . B.C.

The order of the succession of the kings at this time is
doubtful. The first Theban prince who became king was

Antefa, who bore the titles of Erpa and Ha $)•
Following him came, but in uncertain order, Menthu-hetep,

whose Horus name was Sankh = ab-taui, father of Antef-aa
Nekht-neb-tep-nefer, and grandfather of Antef-aa, whose
Horus name was Uah-ankh. Antef=aa, whose Horus
name was Nekht-neb-tep-nefer, Antef“
© o
aa, whose Horus name was Uah-ankh, Menthu-
if.
hetep, whose Horus name was Neb-hap-Ra. He worked
the quarries in the First Cataract, at Gebelen, and in the Wadi
Ilammamat. His prenomen w as formerly read Neb-hetep.
T
Menthu-hetep, whose Horus name was Neb = taui. He

worked the mines in the Wadi Hammamat. Menthu-hetep,
whose Horus name was Sma-taui, and his prenomen Neb-
hep- Ra, who built a temple at Der al-Bahari. He built a
216 SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY,
pyramid tomb in connection with his temple. The whole of

Upper Egypt and Northern Nubia acknowledged the rule of
this king. He had a son called Antef. In the reign of
Menthu = hetep, whose Horus name was Sankh = taui=f, and
whose prenomen was Sankh = ka=Ra, the official Hennu
made an expedition to Punt, a region to the south of the
Red Sea, which included a part of the coast of North-east Africa,
and brought back stone for the statues of the gods, and pro-
ducts of every kind. Five (?) kings who bore the name of
Antef-aa are known. The coffins of two are in the Louvre, the
coffin of a third is in the British Museum, and the tomb of
another, with its two obelisks, was discovered by Mariette at
Thebes, These may, however, belong to a later period,
MIDDLE EMPIRE.
Twelfth Dynasty. From Thebes, 2466 B.C.
Amenemhat Ifought against the Nubians, and vanquished
the Uaua, a people who lived near Korosko ; he built a pyramid
near the modern village of Lisht, about 30 miles south of Cairo.
Usertsen 1 continued his father’s wars in Nubia. He set
up granite obelisks at Heliopolis, and built or rebuilt temples
there; his pyramid is also at Lisht. Amenemhat II worked
the turquoise mines of Sinai and the gold mines of Nubia, and
sent an expedition to Punt ;
he built a pyramid at Dahshur, of
which comparatively little remains. Usertsen II is famous as
the builder of the pyramid at Illahun, which was opened by
Mr. G. W. Fraser. Usertsen III invaded Nubia and com
quered it, and built strong forts near Wadi Halfah, Semnah,
and other places. He made a decree wherein he prohibited
the Blacks from passing the Cataract at Semnah and Kummah
without special permission. He has, like Usertsen II, been
identified with the Sesostris of the Greeks. His pyramid
at Dahshfir was excavated by M. J. de Morgan in 1894.
Amenemhat III was the greatest king of the Xllth dynasty.
He devoted himself to the improvement of the irrigation of
Egypt. He built forts at Semnah and Kummah in Nubia, he
registered the height of the Nile flood in different years, and he
built the Labyrinth and the Pyramid of Hawarah. Recent
investigations have shown that the famous Lake Moeris, which
is described so minutely by Herodotus, Pliny, and others, and is
said to have been built by Amenemhat III, never existed. Major

Sir H. Brown and Prof. Maspero declare that what Herodotus
—
DYNASTIES XII-XVI. 217
saw was not a great reservoir, but the waters of the inundation,
and that the earthworks which he regarded as the sides of the
lake were nothing more than the roads which separated one
basin from another Similarly, the Labyrinth was not the great
!
temple which Herodotus thought, but merely the town which

Amenemhat founded in connection with his pyramid A !
number of remarkable sphinxes, which were found by Mariette

at San (Tanis) have been usually attributed to the Hyksos, but
there is good reason for assigning them to the reign of Amenem-

hat III, who probably had them made. Amenemhat IV and
his sister Sebek = neferu = Ra were the last rulers of the Xllth
dynasty. Under the Xllth dynasty literature flourished, and
there was great prosperity in Egypt.
Thirteenth Dynasty. From Thebes, B.C. . . .
The number and order of the kings of this dynasty are

uncertain, and it is probable that the whole country was
in a state of confusion for many years after the death of
Amenemhat III. The principal kings of whom monuments
areknown are Ra = sekhem = ka, a series of kings each of
:
whom bore the name of Sebek = hetep, Nefer = hetep, and

Ab = aa. There is a statue of Khu = taui-Ra at Khartum.
Fourteenth Dynasty. From Xoi's, B.C. . . .
The principal kings of this dynasty were Anab, Sebek =

em-sa = f, and Sebek = em = sau=f they came from Xo'is, a ;
and probably reigned whilst the kings of the

city in the Delta,
XHIth dynasty ruled at Thebes. At all events, it is certain
that many of the kings of the XHIth and’XIVth dynasties
must have been contemporaneous. None of them can have
had any extensive power in the country, and very few of them
i have left monuments behind them.
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties. [Hyksos.

From Avaris ?] . . . B.C.
During the feeble rule of the kings of Thebes and Xoi's a
i considerable number of Semitic settlers took up their abode in
the Delta, and as the people of the country, who were probably
their kinsfolk, made common cause with them, they watched
|
their opportunity and seized the land and set up their king.
The settlers were called by Manetho “ Hyksos,” a name
which is usually translated by ” Shepherd Kings,” and they
SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY.
no doubt were the Hequ-Shasu

J
A
^ j ^^ i
,
i.e.,the shekhs , or rulers of the tribes which lived in the

north-east of the Delta, and in the deserts east of Egypt,
and in Syria. The chief city of the Hyksos was Avaris, and
their great god was called Set. It must be remembered that
although the Hyksos were masters of the Delta and other
parts of Lower Egypt for a considerable period, they had little
effective authority in Upper Egypt. The kingdom of the
South, which presumably had its capital at Thebes, continued
to be ruled by Egyptian kings, but of these nothing is known.
The Hyksos kings of whom monuments remain are Apepa I,
Apepa II, Nubti, and Khian. The last-named king has
been thought by some to belong to the period of the Herak-
leopolitan princes, but there is little doubt that he was a
Hyksos king his prenomen is found on a stone lion which
;
was obtained by Mr. George Smith in Baghdad, and which is

now in the British Museum, and on a jar lid discovered by
Mr. A. J. Evans in the course of his excavations in Crete.
Seventeenth Dynasty. From Thebes [1800 B.C. ?].
At some period during the rule of the Hyksos kings in the

Delta there probably reigned at Thebes a group of kings who
bore the names of Antef and Antef-aa. The reason for
assigning their reigns to this period is derived from the
character of the monuments which they have left behind
them, and these suggest that they were made some time
between the Xllth and XVIIth dynasties. The royal
prenomens by their forms also suggest a period much later
than the Xlth dynasty to which it has been usual to assign
them. The Theban kings who reigned after the Antefs, and
who certainly belong to the XVIIth dynasty, are Seqenen-
Ra I, Seqenen-Ra II, Seqenen-Ra III, and Ka-mes.
The three of these appear to have engaged in wars against
first
the Hyksos kings in the Delta, and Seqenen-Ra III probably

lost his life in battle against one of them. His mummy, which
shows that he must have died from wounds received in some
hand-to-hand preserved in the Egyptian Museum in
fight, is
Cairo. Kames
was probably the son of Seqenen-Ra III, and
the husband of Queen Aah = hetep, in whose coffin were
found large quantities of jewellery, a bronze spear-head inlaid
in gold with the names and titles of Kames, bronze axe-heads,
DYNASTIES XVII AND XVIII. 219
a goldand a silver boat, each provided with a crew of rowers, etc.

Other royal personages of this period are Senekht = en - Ra
and Aahmes = sa = pa»ari.
Eighteenth Dynasty. From Thebes, 1600 B.C.
Aahmes I(Amasis) attacked the Hyksos, captured their
capital city Avaris, and drove them out of Egypt ; he next
invaded Nubia and conquered it. The expulsion of the
Hyksos has been confounded with the exodus of the Israelites
from Egypt, but they are two different historical events.
Amen = hetep I (Amenophis) built or rebuilt sanctuaries
at Karnak and Der al-Bahari, and carried on wars in Nubia;
he was a devotee of Amen, the local god of Thebes, and was
the founder of the great brotherhood of the priests of Amen.
On many coffins of priests the deceased ecclesiastics are
depicted in the act of worshipping his name, and in pouring
out libations before his cartouches; all the kings of the
XVIIIth dynasty save one were devotees of Amen, but
Amen-hetep I must have been a special patron of the priests.
TehutUmes (Thothmes) continued the war in Nubia,
I
and arms so far south as the foot of the

carried his victorious
Fourth Cataract. He also made conquests in Northern Syria,
and he enriched the temple of Amen with spoil therefrom, set
up two obelisks at Karnak, and built sanctuaries in Nubia.
He was the first king to build a tomb in the Valley of the
'bombs of the Kings at Thebes this tomb was excavated by
;
M. V. Loret in 1899. Thothmes II, the son of Thothmes I

and Queen Mut-nefert, carried on wars in Nubia, and in the
deserts to the east and north-east of Egypt. He married his
half-sister Hatshepset, daughter of Thothmes I and Queen
Aahmes, the daughter of Amen-hetep I. Hatshepset reigned

alone after the death of Thothmes II, and sent an expedition
to Punt, and built the great temple of Der al-Bahari, which she
called Tcheser-Tcheseru, “the Holy of Holies.” Her archi-
tect was Sen-Mut. Her tomb was discovered by Mr. Theodore
M. Davis in 1904, but her body has not yet been found.
Thothmes Ilf was the son of Thothmes II and Aset, a lady
who could not claim Royal descent, and reigned conjointly
with his aunt Hatshepset for some years. When he became
sole ruler of Egypt he devoted his energies to building up an
Egyptian Empire in Western Asia. He advanced so far as
320 SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY,
the Euphrates, and, as the result of numerous expeditions to

Syria and Palestine, brought back large quantities of tribute
and spoil and greatly enriched the treasury of Amen. He was
probably the greatest king who ever reigned in Egypt. The
tomb of Thothmes III is very remarkable and is exceedingly
interesting ; the main chamber is oval in shape and is intended
to represent the Tuat, or
u Other World.” It is difficult of
access, but should certainly be visited by those who are specially
interested in Egyptian religion. Amen = hetep II waged wars
in Syria, and slew seven chiefs with his own hand ;
on his way
to Thebes he hung their bodies head downwards on the bows
of his boat. One of these he sent to Napata in Nubia (Gebel
Barkal) to strike terror into the hearts of the Nubians. Two
statues of this king were found at Wad Ba Nagaa, about 20 miles
south of Shendi, a fact which may prove that the authority of
Amen-hetep extended to the south of the Island of Meroe.
Thothmes IV made a victorious expedition into Phoenicia,
and another into Nubia, which he declared the great god of
the country, Tetun, had delivered into his hands. His tomb
was discovered and excavated by Mr. Theodore M. Davis,
and was officially opened on February 3rd, 1903. One of the
most interesting works of Thothmes IV was the excavation of
the Sphinx, which had become buried by drifting sands.
Amen = hetep III, called Memnon by the Greeks, warred
successfully in Nubia and Asia, and extended the frontiers of
Egypt considerably. He hunted lions in Mesopotamia, and
in the course of his shooting expeditions he married one, if
not two, of the daughters of Kallimma-Sin ( or Kadashman
Bel), King of Babylonia, and a daughter of Shutarna, King of
Mitani, and a daughter and a sister of Tushratta, King of
Mitani. Tushratta’s sister was called Kilkipa. His best
beloved wife, however, was Thi, “ Queen of Egypt,” who
became the mother of Amen-hetep IV. The temple of Sad-
denga in Nubia was built by Amen-hetep III in her honour.
The tomb of Iuaa, the father, and of Thuau, the mother
of Thi, was discovered by Mr. Theodore M. Davis on Sunday ;
February 12th, 1905. In it he found the mummies of the

great queen’s parents, and complete suites of funeral furniture
of a most interesting character. The tomb was literally filled
with objects, and everything of importance was heavily plated
with gold. Included in the find was a chariot. As soon as
possible the contents of the tomb were taken to the Museum
at Cairo, where they are now exhibited in the Egyptian
Dynasty xviii. 221
Museum. Mr. Davis’s discovery is of very great importance,

and throws much new light upon the art of the XVIIIth
it
dynasty. few years ago a mummy was discovered at Thebes

by Mr. Davis which was believed for a time to be that of the
great queen Thi, and it was confidently asserted, after a careful
examination of this mummy had been made, that Thi was an
Egyptian woman, and that the theories which had been put
forth suggesting that she was of Asiatic extraction were flatly
contradicted by the evidence of the physical characteristics of
the mummified body. Shortly after this pronouncement had
been made the mummy which had been declared to be that of
Thi was examined very carefully by Dr. Elliot Smith,
who declared that it was that of a man, and gave irrefutable
physical reasons why it must be the mummy of a man As !
the physiognomy of Iuaa, the father of Thi, is non-Egyptian,

we may still hold the view that the great queen was of foreign
extraction. The correspondence which passed between Amen-
hetep III and his son, and the kings of Karaduniyash
(Babylonia) and Mitani, and the governors of towns in Syria
I
and Phoenicia, and independent shekhs, written in cuneiform
characters, was found at Tell al-Aunarna in 1887, and large
sections of it are preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,
the British Museum, and Berlin. Amen = hetep IV was a
determined opponent of the god Amen and his priests, and he
endeavoured to overthrow them and their god. He wished to
revive and extend the cult of Aten, and to introduce a religion of
”
a monotheistic character ; as a mark of his own “divine mission
he called himself “Khu-en-Aten,” i.e>, the “ spirit of Aten.”
The strife between himself and the priests assumed such serious
proportions that he was obliged to leave Thebes and to found
a new capital on a site near the modern Tell al= ‘Amarna.
Here he established the cult of Aten, made himself high priest,
j
and passed his time in religious and social pursuits instead of
attending to the business of his Empire, which was breaking up.
At his death the cult of Aten declined, and the new capital was
j
>
forsaken, and within a few years was deserted. Amen-
hetep IV had several daughters, some of whom married
worshippers of Amen, and so renounced the religion of their
father. The other kings of the XVIIIth dynasty were Tut-
ankh-Amen, who married a daughter of Amen-hetep IV;
Ai, who married a royal personage, and Heru =em -heb, who
was probably a scion of the royal family of Thebes ; he owed
his accession to the throne to the influence of the priests of

Amen. Heru-em-heb destroyed the shrine of Aten set up in
Thebes by Amen-hetep IV, and restored the temple of Amen
at Karnak. He warred in Nubia, and sent expeditions into
Palestine and Punt.
Nineteenth Dynasty, From Thebes, 1370 B.C.
Rameses I invaded Nubia, and chastised the tribes there :
in his reign the Kheta challenged with success the supremacy

of Egypt in Western Asia. Seti I carried on wars against the
peoples of Syria and Palestine, and claimed to be master of
Cyprus, and of Western Asia as far as the Euphrates. He estab-
lished water stations in the eastern desert, and is said to have
made a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. He built largely
at Thebes and Abydos, and had made the finest of all the rock-
hewn tombs in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. He
built atemple on the west bank of the Nile, near the modern
town of Dulgo, about 160 miles south of Wadi Halfah, probably
in connection with the gold trade. His mummy and coffin are
in Cairo, and his large funeral portrait figure and his magnificent
alabaster sarcophagus are in London, the former in the British
Museum, and the latter in Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Rameses II carried on warsNubia, Libya, Palestine,
in
and Syria, and the material prosperity of Egypt in his reign
was very great. Pie marched into Northern Syria with the
view of crushing the power of the Kheta; a fierce battle
was fought at Kadesh on the Orontes, and the Egyptians
were victorious, but it cost them dear, and ultimately
Rameses II was obliged to sign the treaty of Tanis, which
practically declared the independence of the Kheta, and
admitted their right to Northern Syria so far south as the
Dog River near Berut. Rameses II w as a great builder.r
He set up temples in all the great cities of Egypt, but more

especially in Abydos and Thebes. The rock-hewm temple of
Abh Simbel was made to record his victory over the Kheta, of
which he was very proud, and to terrify the Nubians, and so
prevent open revolts in the country. Rameses II usurped
many statues and buildings which he had not made. He is
famous as one of the oppressors of the Israelites. Mer = en-
Ptah (Meneptah) suppressed the revolt of the Libyans which
broke out in the fifth year of his reign ; his “ Hymn of
—
DYNASTIES XIX-XX. 223
Triumph ” is cut on the back of a large stele* of Amen-hetep III,

which now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. On this stele
is
the name “Israelites” is found, its actual form and context

being as follows :
±un I - sr - da - l feket
^ JL
ben
Is Israel laid waste, not [exists]
pert -
f Khar kheperu em khart.
his grain. Syria hath become as a widow.
(or, progeny)
The word pert here probably means “ grain,” and refers to the
crops which were destroyed by an enemy when he laid waste
his foe’s country ; there is a play of words on the name of
“ Syria ” (Khar) and the word for “ widow ” {khart). Mene-
ptah is thought by many to have been the Pharaoh of the
Exodus. His mummy was found in the tomb of Amen-
hetep II at Thebes.
Other kings of the XIXth dynasty are Amen-Meses,
Seti II, Mer-en-Ptah, and Sa-Ptah. The tomb of
Sa-Ptah was excavated by Mr. Theodore Davis in 1906.
NEW EMPIRE.
Twentieth Dynasty. From Thebes, 1200 B.C.
After the XIXth dynasty came to an end, conflict broke out
between Setnekht, the Egyptian who claimed the throne,
*In connection with this stele it is often asked whether the name of
“ Moses ” is found in the Egyptian inscriptions. The name Mesu, which is
probably the equivalent of “ Moses,” occurs on Ostrakon No. 5631 in the
British Museum. The exact words are, “Mesu said unto me, Come, I pray ‘
thee, open the pot.’
q ®
”
'"* sk - a w
au Mesu tchet-11 a ta
tchatchaau.
The name Mesuaa also \ is found on a papyrus

at Berlin.
— ——
former became conqueror and the first king of the XXth dynasty.
He was succeeded by ten kings, each of whom bore the name of
Rameses, and the greatest of these was Rameses III, in
whose reign Egypt attained to a very high state of commercial
prosperity. He devoted his attention to providing Egypt
with a navy, and thus he was able to crush a confederation of
enemies who attacked the Delta by sea and by land. The
spoil which he obtained was enormous, and he devoted large
portions of it to the sanctuaries of Heliopolis, Abydos, and
Thebes. A list of his donations to the temples, and summaries

of his wars and extensive building operations, are contained in
the great papyrus No. 9999, 133 feet long, preserved in the
British Museum. His mummy is in Cairo, and the cover of his
granite sarcophagus is at Cambridge. In the reign of Rameses III
Egypt first appears as a sea power. His successors,
Rameses IV = XII, were weak kings, and permitted the
priests of Amen to acquire such vast temporal power that at
length they administered the finances of the kingdom, and
imposed and collected taxes. The most masterful of the high
priests of Amen, Her-Heru, usurped the throne on the death of
Rameses XII, and adopted the rank and titles of the old
Pharaohs.
Twenty-first Dynasties. 1100 B.C.
Egypt was now ruled by two dynasties Upper Egypt by

:
a dynasty of priest-kings at Thebes, and Lower Egypt by a

dynasty of kings at Tanis. These kings were :
I. -Tanis. II. Thebes .
1. Nes = ba = neb-Tettet. 1. Her=Heru.

2. Pasebkhanut I. 2. Paiankh.
3. Amen = em = apt. 3. Painetchem I.
4. Sa=Amen. 4. Painetchem II.
5. Pasebkhanut II. 5. Masaherth.
6. Alenkheper=Ra.
7. Painetchem III.
At this period Palestine and Syria asserted their independence,
and, as the priests of Amen devoted more time to their temples
than to the affairs of the throne which they had usurped, the
Nubian tribes ceased to pay tribute to Egypt.
;
DYNASTIES XXI-XXIII.
Twenty -second Dynasty. From Bubastis, g 66 B.C.
Buiuuaua,
J^ I) I)
^ f) ^ ® $
was the great ancestor of the kings of this dynasty. He lived
a Lib y an P rince >
about 1150 b.c., and he and his descendants were warriors,

and generals of the troops who were employed by the kings of
Egypt. His descendant in the fourth generation was Shashanq,
who married the high-priestess of Amen, Meht-en-usekht
theirson Nemareth married the Egyptian lady Thent-sepeh,
and their son Shashanq became the first king of the XXIInd
dynasty. Shashanq 3, the Shishak of 1 Kings xiv, 25 ;
2 Chron. xii, 5, 7, 9, made an expedition against Rehoboam,
King of Judah, with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and
400,000 footmen ; he besieged Jerusalem and took it, and
stripped the Temple, taking away the bucklers and shields of
Solomon and the gold quivers of the King of Zobah, which
David had taken from him and dedicated to God. Thus
Palestine once more became an Egyptian possession. The
successors of Shashanq I were Osorkon I, Tekeleth I,
Osorkon II, Shashanq II, Tekeleth II, Shashanq III,
Pamai, Shashanq IV. Under the rule of these kings
Egypt finally lost most of her foreign possessions, and the
country lay open to the power of any strong foe.
Twenty-third Dynasty. From Tanis, 7 66 B.C.

The first king of this dynasty was Peta = sa = Bast, and
he was succeeded by Uasarkena, during whose reign
Kashta, a Nubian, father of Piankhi, was king of Thebes.
In the reign of Uasarkena the priests of Amen fled from
Thebes and settled at Napata, i.e., Gebel Barkal, at the
foot of the Fourth Cataract, in Nubia. Here they stirred
up the Nubian king Piankhi, who invaded Egypt and
conquered it 721 b.c. The narrative of the conquest is
told by Piankhi on a stele which he set up at Gebel
; Barkal, and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
An attempt to bar his progress was made by Tafnekhtt,
King of Sais, who appears to have laid claim to the sovereignty
of the country, but he was defeated, and for the first time a
f
, Nubian was the actual king of all Egypt. It was reported to
:
Piankhi, in the 21st year of his reign, that the governors of the
t northern towns had made a league together and had revolted
against his authority. He set out for Egypt with his soldiers,
I
and when he arrived at Thebes he made offerings to Amen-Ra,

and commanded his soldiers to pay proper homage to ihe
god. Passing northwards from Thebes he captured city after
city, and finally besieged Memphis, which he soon captured,
and thus made himself master of Egypt. The details of the
capture of the towns, the speeches of the king and of his
vassal princes, and the general information contained in the
narrative, give this inscription an importance possessed by few
others. Piankhi was the founder of the first native Nubian
kingdom, and made Napata his capital. He built a large
temple at Gebel Barkal ; it is now in ruins.
Twenty -fourth Dynasty. From Sais, 733 B.C.

Bakenrenf (Bocchoris), the son of Tafnekhtt, reigned for
six years, and was esteemed one of the six great lawgivers of
Egypt.
Twenty -fifth Dynasty. From Nubia, 700 B.C.

Shabaka,the son of Kashla, burned Bocchoris alive ; he
has been identified with the So of 2 Kings xvii, 4, and was
a contemporary of Sargon and Sennacherib, kings of Assyria.
Shabaka was succeeded by Shabataka, in whose reign
Sennacherib conquered Palestine, and appears to have
attempted to invade Egypt. Shabataka was probably an ally
of Hezekiah, King of Judah. Taharqa, the Tirhakah of
2 Kings xix, 9, was an ally of Hezekiah, -King of Judah,
and assisted in the overthrow of Sennacherib’s army. In
676 Esarhaddon set out to crush the revolt in Palestine,
and six years later he invaded Egypt, defeated Tirhakah,
captured Memphis, and appointed 20 governors over the
various provinces of the country. After the death of
Esarhaddon in 668 Tirhakah returned and proclaimed himself
king of Egypt at Memphis ; but Ashur-bani-pal, the new king
of Assyria, quickly marched against him, and defeated his
forces, which were assembled at Karbaniti ;
Tirhakah fled,
and Ashur-bani-pal marched into Egypt and reappointed the
governors whom his father had appointed, and so crushed the
rebellion. Taharqa built a temple at Semnah, immediately to
the south of that of Thothmes III., and dedicated it to
Usertsen III. This temple was discovered and excavated by
Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself in 1905, and the objects found
in it are now in the Museum at Khartum. An interesting feature
of the temple is the rectangular stone altar which is complete.
;
DYNASTIES XXIV-XXVI. 227
and still in situ . Tirhakah’s successor was Tan ut = Amen,
whom the
Assyrians called Tandamanie ; he was associated with Tirhakah

in ruling the Nubian kingdom. After Tirhakah’s death, as
the result of a dream Tanut-Amen invaded Egypt, and made
his way northwards to the city of Heliopolis, which he cap-
tured he then tried to turn the Assyrians out of Memphis,
;
but, as soon as he heard that relief was coming for them in the
form of an army led by Ashur-bani-pal in person, he fled to
Thebes. Thither he was pursued by the Assyrians, who
captured the city and plundered it in characteristic fashion
Tanut-Amen meanwhile fled to the city of Kipkipi, 662-1 b.c.,
and Ashur-bani-pal returned to Nineveh with a “full hand.”
It is uncertain how
long the rule of the Assyrian governors in
Egypt was maintained, but it can hardly have lasted for more
than a few years, and 10 to 15 years will be ample to allow to

the period during which the Assyrians held sway in Egypt.
Twenty = sixth Dynasty. From Sai's, 666 B.C.

Psemthek (Psammetichus) married the high-priestess of
I
Amen called Shep-en-Apt he allowed Greeks to settle in the

;
Delta, and employed Ionians and Carians to fight for him.

He established garrisons of Greek mercenaries at Elephantine,
Pelusium, Daphnae (Dafannah), and Marea. During this reign
the Mashuasha and other mercenaries deserted and marched
in a body to the Sudan, where they obtained a grant of land
|
from the king and settled down. After this the Mashuasha
no more appear in Egyptian history. They deserted because
the king took no steps to relieve the garrisons. Nekau
maintained a powerful army of Greeks and other peoples,
and kept a fleet of triremes both in the Mediterranean
Sea and in the Red Sea. He re-cut and enlarged the old
:
canal which united the Red Sea with the Nile, and employed
1
120,000 men in the work but an oracle having declared that

;
he was only toiling for the foreigner, he gave up the under-

taking. Nekau, or Necho, made an expedition into Syria, and
as Josiah, King of Judah, tried to stop his progress, he did
battle against him in the Valley of Megiddo an Egyptian;
1
arrow penetrated the armour of Josiah, and he was mortally

wounded and died. Necho then advanced towards the
1i
Euphrates, being master of Syria and Palestine, but was met at

Karkemish by the Babylonian army led by Nebuchadnezzar II,
and was defeated. Palestine and Syria then became provinces
of Babylonia. See 2 Kings xxiii, 29 Jeremiah xlvi, 2.
Psammetichus II is said to have engaged in war with
the Nubians ; his reign was short, but building operations
were carried out by him on a considerable scale. Uah=ab«
Ra, the Pharaoh Hophra of the Bible (Jeremiah xliv, 30),
and Apries of the Greeks, marched to the help of Zedekiah,
King of Judah, who was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II,
King of Babylon. Owing to a mutiny among his soldiers,
who suspected that Apries had planned their defeat, the
troops made their general Amasis ruler of the country, and
proclaimed him king. During the reign of Apries Egypt
enjoyed a period of great prosperity, which was directly due
to the encouragement he gave to commerce ; about this time
Naucratis became a great city. After the invasion of Palestine
by Nebuchadnezzar II, Jeremiah and a number of Jews escaped
to Egypt and settled in Tahpanhes (Jeremiah xliii, 7).
Amasis II entered into friendly relations with the Greeks,
and the development of Naucratis continued ; he was forced
to fight against his former master Apries, whom he defeated,
but spared and treated in an honourable manner. Apries,
however, raided the country, and one day, when the soldiers
of Amasis found him sitting in a boat, they slew him. Amasis
was a great and generous warrior, and an able commander, and
under his care many of the old sanctuaries of Egypt were
restored. Psammetichus HI. In his reign the Persians
marched against Egypt, and having defeated the Egyptians at
Pelusium, they invaded the country and captured Memphis.
Cambyses treated Psammetichus III with kindness, but as
soon as he found him interfering in the affairs of the country
he made him “ to drink the blood of a bull, and he died
immediately afterwards.” Thus perished the last king of the
XXVIth dynasty, and Egypt became a province of Persia,
Twenty -seventh Dynasty. From Persia, 527 B.C.
Cambyses marched against the Ethiopians (Nubians), and

is said to have reached Meroe the inscription of Nastasen
;
appears to contain a mention of his overthrow. He sent

a detachment of 50,000 men to march to the Oasis of Jupiter
Ammon ;
they reached the Oasis of Khargah, but they were
;
DYNASTY XXVII. 229
never more heard of. Cambyses committed many foolish and

sacrilegious acts inEgypt, and is said to have died from
a sword wound in the thigh, which he inflicted upon himself
accidentally. Darius I. Hystaspes adopted the rank and style
of the kings of Egypt, had his name, transcribed into hiero-
glyphics, placed in a cartouche, and called himself “ son of Ra ”
he supported native religious institutions, and contributed a sum
of money towards the discovery of a new Apis Bull. He
completed the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea which
Necho had begun, established a coinage, and favoured all
attempts to promote the welfare of Egypt. He was tolerant,
especially in the matter of religion, and his form of government
was conciliatory. His greatest architectural work was the
temple which he built in the Oasis Al-Khargah in honour of
the god Amen ; on the south-west wall of this temple is
inscribed a most remarkable hymn in 50 lines. Four years
after the battle of Marathon, the Egyptians under Khabbesha
revolted against the Persians ;

Darius determined
to set out from Persia to suppress the revolt, but died before
he could do so. Xerxes suppressed the rebellion in Egypt :
monuments of this king are not common, and there is no

great work which can be mentioned as the product of his reign.
Artaxerxes I, like Xerxes, neither repaired nor built a
temple, although he assumed the titles of the Pharaohs. In
his reign Inaros, a Libyan, headed a revolt against the Persians,
and obtained help from the Athenians ; in the battle at
Papremis the Persians were defeated, and Akhaemenes, the
Satrap of Egypt, was killed. Subsequently a Persian army
arrived, and in the battle which followed the Egyptians were
defeated ; Inaros was taken to Persia, and at the end of five
years was impaled and then flayed alive.
Darius II (Nothus) added his Egyptian name and titles
to the walls of the temple of Darius I at Al-Khargah Oasis,
|
and carried out some works on the temple at Edfu. His
successors were Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III, but
they had no influence on the destinies of Egypt. The greatest
, of all the Persian kings of Egypt was undoubtedly Darius I,
who not only conquered Egypt, but pacified its people ; he
! tried to understand the priests and their religion, and was so
!
wise, just, and prudent, that he was regarded as one of the six
!
great lawgivers of the country.
—
Twenty -eighth Dynasty* From Sa'is, * . . B.C.

This dynasty consisted of a single king, Amen = rut, or
Amyrtaeus, who cannot, however, be the Amyrtaeus who
was the ally of Inaros ; his reign lasted six years.
Twenty = ninth Dynasty. From Mendes, 399 B.C.

The kings of this dynasty were :
Naif = aaiu = rut I (Nepheri- !
Peshamut (Psammuthis).
tes). Naif = aaiu = rut II (Nep-
Haker (Akhoris). herites).
The reigns of these kings were wholly unimportant, and the
last of them only reigned four months.
Thirtieth Dynasty. From Sebennytus, 378 B.C.

Nekht Heru = hebt, the Nektanebes of the Greeks,
restored for a short time the independence of the Delta, and
the times were sufficiently peaceful to allow him to build a
temple to Horus near the modern village of Behbit al-PIajarah.
He repaired many of the old temples of Egypt at Thebes and
Memphis, and opposed the Persians at every opportunity.
His claims to conquests outside Egypt are fictitious. Tche =
hra, the Teos, or Tachos, of the classical writers, restored the
temple of Khensu Nefer-hetep at Thebes, and worked the
quarries near Memphis.
Nekht = neb = f, the Nektanebos of the Greeks, was a great
warrior and a great builder. He built a vestibule at Philae,
he carried out repairs at Thebes, Memphis, and at many other
places. With an army of 20,000 Greeks, 20,000 Libyans, and
60,000 Egyptians, he attempted to fight the Persians, but losing
heart when he saw the successes of his enemy, he is said to
have quietly abdicated his throne, and, taking much treasure
with him, to have fled to Ethiopia. Thus ended the rule of
the last native king of Egypt, and the country has been ordained
to be the possession of the foreigner even until now. A
popular legend declared that Nectanebus fled to Macedon,
where he became the father of Alexander the Great, to whose
mother, Olympias, he appeared in the form of Amen of the
two horns.
PERIOD OF MACEDONIAN RULE. 23I
Persians.
Artaxerxes III (Oclius), Arses, and Darius III
(Codomannus), 340-336 b.c.
III. -THE GREEK PERIOD.

Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies*
During the last three reigns the Egyptians were harassed by
the Persian revenue officers, and their rule was both feared and
hated, and they welcomed the successes of Alexander of
Macedon, called the Great. About 332 b.c, Alexander
arrived in Egypt, and spent some time in Memphis, where he
seems to have been crowned. From Memphis he set out for
the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon via Canopus, and the priests of
Amen received him gladly ; in the temple of the Oasis Amen
was worshipped under an unusual form, and when Alexander
had paid his vows to it, the god (or his priests) indicated
by some movement that he regarded Alexander as his son.
“ Id quod pro deo colitur non eamdem effigiem habet quam
k
vulgo diis artifices accomodaverunt
‘
: umbilicus maxime
”
“similis est habitus, smaragdus et gemmis coagmentatus
Quintus Curtius, IV, 7. Prof. Naville has suggested that
the symbol of the god of the Oasis, made of an emerald
and other precious stones, was fastened within the umbilicus
(this word being used by Quintus Curtius as the equivalent of
umbo the “boss of a shield ”) of a shield-shaped object
,
specially made to contain it. This object, M. Naville thinks,

resembled the green stone shield-shaped slabs, sculptured in
relief with the figures of animals, etc., which have been found
at Hierakonpolis and other very early sites. The object was
placed in the shrine of the god, probably resting in a boat, and
could easily be taken out and carried about in processions.
The “ palette ” theory thus falls to the ground. Alexander
founded the city of Alexandria near the old town of Raqetit
(Rakoti), and intended it to be a port for his ships ;
the
city rapidly increased in size and numbers, and soon became
the seaport capital of Egypt. Alexander died in June, 323,
at Babylon, and was buried at Alexandria. In the scramble
for the provinces of the empire of Alexander which took
place at his death, Egypt fell to the share of Ptolemy
Lagus, and this brave warrior administered the country in
the names of Alexander’s sons, Philip Arrhidaeus and
Alexander II of Egypt; the former never was in Egypt, and
the latter went there when he was six years old, and was
murdered (311 b.c.) when he was 13, but in spite of these facts
Ptolemy caused buildings to be erected in their names, and
ruled the country as their loyal servant.
Ptolemy I, Soter I, son of Lagus and Arsinoe, was born
367 b.c. ; he married Artacama, daughter of Artabazos, in 324,
and Thais in 323 ; he became Satrap of Egypt in 323,
married Berenice I in 317, and assumed the title of Soter in
304. He abdicated in favour of his son in 285. He died
283-2 b.c. He founded the famous Alexandrian Library
and encouraged Greeks to make Alexandria their home.
Ptolemy II, Philadelphus, was born about 304 b.c.
He became king in 287 or 286, married Arsinoe 1, daughter
of Lysimachus of Thrace, in 285, and his sister Arsinoe II
in 280, and died about 246. He built the Pharos, founded
Berenice on the Red Sea, and Arsinoe in the Fayyum,
employed Manetho to write a history of Egypt in Greek, and
caused the Greek version of the Old Testament (Septuagint)
to be made.
Ptolemy III, Euergetes I, became co-regent in 267,
married Berenice II about 246 B.C., his daughter Berenice
died in 238, and he himself died at the end of 222. The
Stele of Canopus was set up in the ninth year of his reign.
This important stele, preserved in the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo, is inscribed in hieroglyphics, Greek, and Demotic, with
a decree of the priesthood which was promulgated at Canopus.
It enumerates the benefits conferred on the priesthood, and the
assistance which the king rendered to the people in times of
famine ; it refers to the death of Princess Berenice, and
mentions the reform of the calendar which Ptolemy III tried
to introduce. He wished to add one day to every fourth year,
and so do away with the absurdity of celebrating summer
festivals in the winter, and winter festivals in the summer.
Ptolemy was a patron of art and literature, and he began to
build the temple of Edfu. He made Eratosthenes keeper of
the Alexandrian Library (he died 196), and is credited with
having secured the original MSS. of the works of H^schylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles for that institution.
Ptolemy IV, Philopator I, began to reign 221 B.C. ; he
married his sister Arsinoe III in 217, and permitted her to be
murdered between 209-205, and died in 205. He added a
hall to the temple which Ergamenes built at Dakkah, and
continued the work which his father had begun at Edfu. He
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD. 233
defeated Antiochus the Great at the battle of Raphia. In his

reign elephant hunts were organised,and numbers of elephants
were brought to Egypt by sea from Abyssinia and employed in
military service.
Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, was born 209 or 208 b.c., and
was made joint ruler of Egypt with his father; in 205 he
became king of Egypt, in 193 or 192 he married Cleopatra I,
daughter of Antiochus III, and was poisoned in 181. During
his reign Coelesyria and Palestine were lost to Egypt, and
revolts and rebellions were widespread and frequent. The
Rosetta Stone, which is inscribed with a decree of the priests
of Memphis, was set up in the eighth or ninth year of his reign.
Ptolemy VI, Eupator, appears to have reigned with
Ptolemy V for some years ; he died the year in which he
,
became sole ruler of Egypt.

Ptolemy VII, Philometor, was the son of Ptolemy V and
Cleopatra and he was crowned king 173 B.C. Two years
I,
later he was defeated by Antiochus IV at the battle of Pelusium,

and the king of Syria, having taken Memphis, proclaimed
himself king of Egypt. A brother of Ptolemy VII, known in
history as Ptolemy IX, who had made himself master of
Alexandria, also declared himself to be king of Egypt. Onias
begged permission from Ptolemy VII to build an altar to the God
of the Hebrews, and this being granted, Onias built the temple
fortress of Onion, 180 furlongs from Memphis. This Jewish
settlement is represented by the modern Tell al-Yahudiyyah,
and seems to be the Scense Veteranorum of the Roman writers.
Ptolemy VIII, Eupator II, or Neos Philopator, was
murdered by his uncle.
Ptolemy IX, Euergetes II (Physkon), finished the
building of the temple of Edfu, and repaired many temples
both in Egypt and Nubia. He reigned from 147 to 1 17 B.C.
Ptolemy X, Soter II (Lathyrus), who began to reign
1
17 B.C., was banished to Cyprus in 106, and his brother
Ptolemy XI, Alexander I, reigned with Cleopatra III until
i
he was killed in 87 Ptolemy X died about 81 b.c.
;
Ptolemy XII, Alexander II, was killed in 81 or 80.

Ptolemy XIII, Neos Dionysos, called “ Auletes, the
“ flute player,” reigned from 80 to 52 B.C.
Ptolemy XIV and Cleopatra VII, Tryphaena ; the
Senate of Rome appointed Pompey to be their guardian ; after
the battle of Pharsalia Pompey came to Egypt, but was slain
by the machinations of Ptolemy, who had banished his
;
wife Cleopatra. 48 Julius Caesar came to Egypt to

In
and defeated the forces of Ptolemy, who
reinstate Cleopatra,
was drowned. Ptolemy XV was appointed co-regent with
Cleopatra by Caesar, but three years later (in 45) he was
murdered by Cleopatra’s orders, and her son by Caesar, who is
known as Ptolemy XVI, Caesarion, was named co-regent in
his stead (36 B.C.). The rule of the Ptolemies lasted 275
years. Caesar was murdered in 44, and Antony, his suc-
cessor in Egypt, lived with Cleopatra until the Roman Senate
despatched a force against him under Octavianus, who cap-
tured Alexandria, and became master of Egypt. About 30 b.c.
Antony killed himself, and Cleopatra killed herself, either by
poison or by the bite of an asp. Thus Egypt became
a Roman province.
IV.—'THE ROMAN PERIOD.

Octavianus appointed Cornelius Gallus first Prefect of Egypt
be su PP resse d a revolt in the Thebaid and a
ô B C '
*
serious rising of the Ethiopians, or, rather,
Nubians. He
was recalled by Octavianus (who now reigned
under thetitle of Augustus), and killed himself.
Gaius Petronius, the second Prefect of Egypt, suppressed
a rev0 ^ n Alexandria and tightened the grasp
*
28 B C
of the Romans on the country.
25 ,, Êlius Gallus, the third Prefect of Egypt.
Gaius Petronius (recalled) marched against a confederation
which had invaded Egypt and
Nubian tribes
24
4 BC*
’
defeated the Roman
garrisons at Philae and
Syene. The Romans invaded Nubia and advanced as far as
Napata, overcoming all the resistance which was offered them
on their way.
Rebellion of Nubians under Candace. The rising was soon
suppressed, and Candace sent envoys to Rome
2* bc to beg for peace, asking that her territories
might be restored to her.
Tiberius.— In his reign Germanicus Caesar visited Egypt.
“ Next he visited the vast ruins of ancient Thebes.
^ 4 *
« There y et remained on the towering piles
“ Egyptian inscriptions, with a complete account of the city’s
“ past grandeur. One of the aged priests, who was desired to
“ interpret the language of his country, related how once there
“ had dwelt in Thebes 700,000 men of military age, and how
THE ROMAN PERIOD. 235
“ with such an army Rhamses conquered Libya, Ethiopia, Media,
Ad, *4*
’
“ P ers a Bactria, and Scythia, and held under his
i
>
“sway the countries inhabited by the Syrians,

“ Armenians, and their neighbours, the Cappadocians, from the
“ Bithynian to the Lycian Sea. There was also to be read what
“ tributes were imposed on these nations, the weight of silver and
“ gold, the tale of arms and horses, the gifts of ivory and of per-
“ fumes to the temples, and the amount of grain and supplies
kk
furnished by each people, a revenue as magnificent as is now
“ exacted by the might of Parthia or the power of Rome. But
“ Germanicus also bestowed attention on other wonders.
“ Chief of these were the stone image of Memnon, which,
“ when struck by the sun’s rays, gives out the sound of a
“ human voice the pyramids, rising up like mountains amid
;
“ almost impassable wastes of shifting sand raised by the ;
“ emulation and vast wealth of kings the lake Moeris)

;
“ hollowed out of the earth to be a receptacle for the Nile’s

“ overflow and elsewhere the river’s narrow channel and
;
“ profound depth which no line of the explorer can penetrate.

kk
He then came to Elephantine and Syene, formerly the limits
“ of the Roman Empire, which now extends to the Red Sea.”
-Tacitus, bookii., §§59-61 (Church and Brodribb). yEmilius
Rectus and Avillius Flaccus were appointed Prefects.
Caligula. --Many conflicts took place in Alexandria be-
tween the Greeks and Jews, and the latter were
A d
treated with great rigour and deprived of their
rights of citizenship.
Claudius. — In
his reign trade between the East and Egypt
was developed, and the internal prosperity of
4 D4 1
i
Egypt was improved, chiefly through the atten-
*
tion which was given to irrigation,

Nero is said to have sent officers to trace out the sources of
A d 54* the Nile. Christianity was preached in Egypt
by St. Mark at the end of his reign.
,, 68. Galba.
,, 69. Otho.
,, 69. Vitellius.
Vespasian arrived in Alexandria and was regarded as a god;
îs ru ^ e a PP ears t0 h ave been just, and he
A D 6
attended carefully to the administration of the
finances of the country. He sent troops from Egypt to take
part in the siege of Jerusalem, which was being conducted
by his son Titus. Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70.
1

Titus. -During his reign a new Apis Bull was installed in
Memphis, and the Emperor assisted at the
A.D. 79.
ceremonies.
Domitianus built temples to Isis and Serapis
8s.
in Rome. In this reign Juvenal was banished
to Syene.
96. Nerva.
—
Trajan. Serious disturbances broke out between the Greeks
and Jews, and a Roman force under Marcius
A.D. 98.
Turbo had to be sent to rescue the Greeks, who
were besieged by the Jews in Alexandria; the Jewish popula-
tion of Alexandria was destroyed. The canal (Amnis
Trajanus) which connected the Nile with the Red Sea was
cleared out and traffic on it resumed. Turbo built the fortress
of Babylon.
Hadrian visited Egypt twice, and he took great interest in
the restoration of buildings, and in Egyptian
A.D. 117.
literature. On one of his voyages up the Nile,
Antinous, a youth who was a great favourite of the Emperor,
either drowned himself or was drowned accidentally, and
Hadrian built the city of Antinoopolis in memory of him. A
road also was made by him from the city to Berenice on the
Red Sea. Hadrian and his wife Sabina visited the Colossi of
Amenophis III at Thebes to hear the sounds which proceeded
from the northern statue.
A.D. 138. Antoninus Pius.
—
Marcus Aurelius. A revolt of the Bucolic troops, led by
Isidore, a priest, broke out in this reign, and a
AD 161
Roman officer was killed and eaten by the rebels.
It was suppressed by Avidius Cassius. Unfortunately for
himself he was subsequently proclaimed emperor by his
soldiers, but after a short time he was slain by a centurion, and
his son Maecianus was murdered by the troops. Marcus
Aurelius caused the famous Itinerary to be made.
A.D. 180. Coinmodus.
193 . Pertinax.
1
93 * Didius Julianus.
* 93 - Pescennius Niger.
Septimius Severus visited Egypt. An edict
193 .
was issued against the Christians.
Caracalla visited Egypt, and because of the insults of the
Alexandrians he ordered a general massacre of
A.D. 21
all the young men in the city. He was murdered
by a soldier.
—
THE ROMAN PERIOD. 2 37
Macrinus appointed Basilianus Prefect of

A.D. 21 1
Egypt, and Marius his deputy.
—
Elagabalus. In his reign Marius was killed in a faction
at Alexandria, and Basilianus escaped to
AD 1 8
Rome.
Decius.- A
systematic attempt to destroy the Christians was
made, and every person was called on to offer
A.D. 249.
sacrifice or die.
.» 2 53 «
—
Valerianus. Further persecution of the
Christians.
Gallienus.- -Persecution of Christians stayed. In his reign,
Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, invaded Egypt
A.D. 260.
(A.D. 268).
Aurelian. Zenobia became Queen of Egypt for a short time,
a and her followers struck coins with the head of
'
Aurelian on one side and that of Vaballathos
*
on the other. She was dethroned in 273.

Probus attacked and defeated the Blemmyes on the south,
. ~ , and once more made the Romans masters of
A.D. 276.
the country.
Diocletian. -The Blemmyes became so powerful at this time
that they compelled the Romans to withdraw
A.D. 284.
their troops from northern Nubia, and the
Romans employed the Nobatae, a powerful desert tribe, to
protect Upper Egypt and to keep the Blemmyes in check. In
295 Lucius Domitius Domitianus headed a revolt in Alex-
andria, and was proclaimed king by the populace ; Diocletian
came to Egypt and besieged Alexandria for several months,
and when the city fell he well-nigh destroyed it. Pompey’s
Pillar was set up in 302, and the savage persecution of the
Christians began in 304. The Copts date the Era of the
Martyrs from August 29th, 284.
Constantine the Great. —
In this reign a serious dispute
arose about the nature of Christ between Arius
AD 2
and Athanasius the former maintained that
;
Christ was only similar in nature to God, and the latter, who
set forth the views of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, that
Christ and His Father were of one and the same nature.
Constantine was appealed to for a decision, whereupon he
summoned a council of bishops at Nicaea, and the views
of Arius were condemned as unorthodox. On account of the
unpleasant relations which existed between the people of
Alexandria and the Emperor, Constantine withdrew his favour
from the city, and founded Constantinople (Byzantium).
Constantius. — George of Cappadocia, an Arian, is made

Bishop of Alexandria, and, with the help of the
.
*
n • 337* Government, he endeavoured to crush Athanasius
and his followers.
Julian the Apostate rejected Christianity and permitted
the °ld pagan religions of Egypt
An *•
3
fk
the f°M° wers
to follow their favourite beliefs. George the
Arian was set upon by the populace of Alexandria and
murdered in the streets.
Theodosius I, the Great, proclaimed Christianity the religion
°f his Empire. In Alexandria the orthodox
An *
37
o
*
Christians attacked pagans and Arians alike,
and Alexandria became the centre of frequent fights between
the followers of the chief religious factions. The temples and
many other buildings were turned into churches throughout
Lower Egypt, but in the upper country the Imperial edict could
not be enforced, and the worship of the old gods of Egypt
lingered on. It has been said, and not without some show of
reason, that the revenues of the pagan temples were as much
the object of the reformer’s zeal as the conversion of the
pagans themselves to Christianity.
V.— THE BYZANTINE PERIOD.

Arcadius. — In
his reign the secular power passed into the
hands of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria,
^ ^ 395* w h 0 proceeded to kill those who did not accept
his views as to the anthropomorphic theory of God.
—
Theodosius II. The patriarch Theophilus died in 413, and
WaS succee(^ e(^ b y Cyril, who began to quarrel
AD 4 08 with the Jews, and his influence was so great on
*
the mob that the Jewish quarter was plundered and wrecked,
and the houses of wealthy Jews were destroyed. The murder
of Hypatia by the monks, which took place in the Church of
the Caesareum, was the result of the successes of Cyril. In
this reign the doctrines of Nestorius were condemned by
Cyril, for, in addition to the two natures of Christ, Nestorius
inferred also two persons, a human and a divine.
Marcianus. — In his of Constantinople
reign Eutyches
i me d
possessed one person
P roc l a that Christ
A d 45 o only, and one nature only, namely, the Divine,
a
the human having been absorbed into it. In 451 the Council
of Chalcedon condemned the views of Eutyches, but in spite
THE BYZANTINE PERIOD. 239
of this the Copts of Egypt, who are Monophysites, practically
AD o
a( ^
ere t0 his opinions on this matter. Towards
45°« enc[ 0 £ reign of Theodosius II, the Blem-
myes again began to trouble Egypt, and as they attacked Egypt in
new Emperor was obliged to send his
force after his death, the
general into Nubia and punish them. As a result the Blemmyes
and the Nobatae made an agreement with the Romans, in which
they promised to keep the peace for one hundred years ; but they
broke it very shortly afterwards. In this reign the people of
Alexandria burned down the temple of Serapis.
Zeno issued the Henoticon, an edict which, whilst affirming
the Incarnation, made no attempt to decide the
^ ^ 474*
question whether Christ possessed a
single or a double nature.
—
Anastasius. In his reign the Persians invaded the Delta,
and the Roman troops were unable to stop
^ 0 49 i their
•
advance. Peter Mongus died, and there
was peace among the ecclesiastics for a short time. Anastasius
sent a mission to the Homeritse of Arabia.
—
Justinian. The Monophysites separated from the Melkites
A D 5 2 7* q° 16
r R °y alists > an d chose their own patriarch ;
y were afterwards called Copts. In this

reign Hadad, King of Axum, opened negotiations with the
Romans at Alexandria, and Narses, by the royal command,
went up the Nile to Phike and destroyed the temple of Isis
and Osiris there, and carried the statues of the gods to
Constantinople.
During the first half of the 6th century the Nubians as a
nation embraced Christianity, the first Christian kingdom
being established by Silko, king of the Nobadae, who made
Dongola his capital.
Heraclius I. — The Persians invaded Egypt and besieged
AD 610
Alexandria 619; they held Egypt for ten
years. In 629, under the influence of the
I
victories of Muhammad the Prophet, the Arabs revolted from
the rule of Persia, and Heraclius, seizing the opportunity,
j
I
marched into Syria, scattering the Persians before him, and
once more became master of Egypt.
The Era of the Hijrah, i.e ., the Flight, dates from the
day when Muhammad the Prophet fled with Abu Bakr from
Mecca to Madinah, i.e., on the fourth day of the month
Rabi al-Awwal, on June 20th/' A.D. 622. They arrived
* This is the true date. According to Muhammadans the Era began on
July 16th, A.D. 622.
at Madinah on Monday, June 28th, having accomplished the

journey in eight days. The usual caravan time is eleven days,
but the distance between Mecca and Madinah is often covered
in five or six days. Muhammad and Abu Bakr really started
on their journey from the Cave of Thaur. The name of
Muhammad’s camel was “Al-Kaswa.” Muhammad died in
632.
VI.— THE MUHAMMADAN PERIOD.

‘Amr ibn al = ‘Asi, the general of ‘Omar, arrived at Pelusium
a f° rce °f between 7,500 and 8,000 men,
A d 5 ^ o and defeated the garrison in a month. The
*
Arabs marched to Bilbes, and then to Misr, or “ Babylon of

Egypt,” which was defended by a large Roman army, and
guarded by the fortress which Turbo built in is 6. The
fortress was surrendered chiefly through the machinations of
Al-Makaukas, whom Mr. Butler has proved to be no other
than Cyrus, the “ misbelieving governor who was appointed
by Heraclius after the recovery of Egypt from the Persians
to be both Patriarch and Governor of Alexandria.” Thus
Egypt became a province of the Empire of the Arabs.
Once master of Egypt, ‘Amr set to work to build on the plain
close to Babylon a Muhammadan capital, which
a n 040.
A.U. a
^
ca ll e d “Al = Fustat,” i.e., “The Camp.” The
word Fustat is derived from the Byzantine tyoafraTov. Fustat
remained the capital of Egypt until Cairo was founded in 969.
The Khalifah ‘Omar was murdered, and ‘Abdallah ibn Sa‘ad
A . was appointed Governor of Egypt. ‘Othman
A.D. 644.
becomes K
h al ifa h.
. Alexandria was seized by Manuel, but he was
” 45 *
d r ven ou t by ‘Amr, and Alexandria was laid
j
waste.
‘Abdallah ibn Sa‘ad invaded Nubia, captured
*
n ,
^
Dongola, and compelled the people to make
*
"
a treaty with him.

A.D. 656. ‘Ali becomes Khalifah.
‘Amr died, leaving to his sons a fortune of
” 4 ’
70 sacks of dinars.
A. — The ‘Omayyad Khalifahs.

A.D. 661. Mu‘awiyah.
,, 661. Yazid (‘Abdallah ibn Zubar),
,, 683. Marwan I,
f
THE RULE OF THE KHALI FAHS. 24I
A.D. 685. ‘Abd aUMaiik.

y y 705- AUWalid I.
} » 715- Suleman.
» 717 . Omar ibn ‘Abd al=‘Aziz
f f 720 . Yazid II.
t f 724 . Hisham.
t f 724. AUWalid II.
t » 744- Yazid III.

> t 744- Ibrahim.
9 9 744- Marwan II.
B. —The ‘Abbasid Khalifahs.

A.D. 750. As = Saffah.
754. AUMansur.
775. AUMahdi.
785. AUHadi.
786. Ar= Rashid.
809. AUAmin.
813. Al = Ma‘mun.
833. AUMo‘tasim.
842. AUWathik.
847. A = Mutawekkil.
1
861. AUMuntasir.
862. Al = Musta‘in.
866. Al = Mo‘tazz.
-The Dynasty of the Tulunid Khalifahs.
Ahmad ibn Tulun was born inSeptember, 835, and entered
A n Egypt 868- He built the suburb Al-Katai
in 870 in 876 he began to build his great
;
mosque, which cost 100,000 dinars, took Damascus and

occupied Syria in 878, and acquired territory in Mesopotamia.
He died in May, 884, leaving 10,000,000 dinars in his treasury.
Khumaraweyh, the second of Ahmad’s seventeen sons,
he was
A D 88 4 succeeded
his father at the age of 20 ;
murdered in 896 by his slaves whilst at

*
Damascus. His eldest son, Abu l‘ = Asakir, reigned for a

few months, and was also murdered, and another son, Abu
Musa Harun, also reigned for a short time, and was murdered
as he lay drunk in his tent on December 29th, 904. The
following year the whole of Tiilun’s descendants were taken
to Baghdad by the Khalifah’s general, Muhammad, and Tftlun’s
.
j
suburb of Cairo was sacked and burned, and rapine and
>
1
murder were, for four months, the order of the day.

A.D. 906. Muhammad al-Khalangi usurps the rule
i of Egypt for eight months. q
;
D.— The Dynasty of the Fatimid Khalifahs.

A.D. 913. Khubasa, the Fatimid general, occupied
Alexandria, but was driven out by the Egyptians.
Alexandria was again captured by the Fatimid troops, and
their fleet arrived off the city, but they were
A.U. 919* once more driven out by the Egyptians.
Muhammad ibn Tughg, called the Ikhshid, took over the
government of Egypt in August of this year
A.D. 935. died at Damascus in July, 946, and was
buried in Jerusalem. He was a great builder, and set up a
magnificent palace in the place called the “ Garden of Kafur.”
In his reign the Arab historian Mas ‘Mi visited Egypt.
. _ , Abti 1 = Kasim, son of Muhammad al-
A.D. 946. Ikhshid
•
Abu 1 = Hasan ‘Ali, son of Muhammad al-Ikhshid. These

two brothers were only Egypt name,
ah ^ * ’
‘for they were merely
puppets of the black
rulers of in
eunuch, Kafur, who acted as regent. Each was allowed f
400,000 dinars per annum, and was ordered to do anything he

pleased except interfere in affairs of State.
Abu = Misk Kafur was an Abyssinian slave who was bought
l
by Muhammad al-Ikhshid from an oilman for

A D ^6 about and was appointed governor of his
^10,
master’s sons ;
he died
in 968.
A Fatimid army entered Fustat, and Al = Mu‘izz* became
master of Egypt ; he was a prudent, generous,
.
*
n ^, “
and cultured ruler, and he belonged to the Shi‘a
or “ free thinking ” section of the Muhammadans. The general
who conquered Egypt for the Fatimids was called Gawhar,
nicknamed '‘the Roman,” who had formerly been a slave. He
founded a new capital, and because Mars, Al-Kahir, was in
the ascendant when the first sods were turned, he called the
city Al-Kahirah, or “the victorious,” and from this name the
modern name “ Cairo ” has been derived. Gawhar at once
compelled the corn merchants to sell their grain to the people
at fair prices, and did much to relieve the sufferings among the
people which were caused by the famine; in his time the
plague was so severe that the dead could not be buried fast
enough, and the bodies had to be thrown into the Nile. He
founded the mosque Al-Azhar in 970, and finished the build-
ing in 972. AhMufizz died in 975*
* The first three Fatimid Khalifahs were I ADMahdi, 909-934
( ) j,
(2) Al-Ka’im, 934~945 i 3) AUMansur, 945~953*

(
THE RULE OF THE KHALiFAHS. 2 43
Al = ‘Aziz, the son of Al-Mu‘izz, was a great hunter and

. warrior, and had red hair and blue eyes one ot ;
975 hi s w V es was a Christian, and her two brothers
*
i
were appointed Melkite, or “royalist,” patriarchs of Alexandria

and Jerusalem. During the reign of Al-‘Aziz Egypt enjoyed
complete peace and prosperity, and, in Mr. Stanley Lane
Poole’s words, his name ‘‘was prayed for in the mosques from
the Atlantic to the Red Sea, in the Yemen, in the sanctuary
of Mekka, and once (in 992) even in the pulpit of Mosil.”
Al = Hakim succeeded when he was eleven
his father, Al-Aziz,
y ears an d when he was free from the direc-

AD 99 6 •
tion of his tutor, Bargawan, he gained the
reputation for being a madman. He summoned his councils
to meet he loved the darkness, he ordered busi-
at night, for
ness to be transacted after sunset, women were not allowed
to possess outdoor boots, the vines were cut down, honey
was thrown into the Nile, dogs were ordered to be killed when-
ever found in the streets, and he persecuted the Christians.
In 1005 he founded the “Hall of Science,” the object of
which was to propagate the tenets of the Shi‘a sects, and he
established an Observatory on the Mukattam hills, where he
studied astrology. In a mad fit he ordered Fustat to be set
on fire, and after three days’ fighting half the city was actually
burned down. Finally his madness made him declare that
he was the Incarnation of God, and a preacher in the mosque
of ‘Amr actually began an address with the words “ In the
name of Al-IJakim the Compassionate, the Merciful.” He
was the friend and patron of Darazi, the founder of the Druzes,
whom he hid when the Turkish soldiers besieged his palace.
On February 13th, 1021, Hakim set out for his usual ride in
the desert near the Mukattam hills, where he seems to have
been murdered ; his ass was found a few days later, also his
coat of seven colours with dagger marks on it, but his body
was never recovered.
Zahir, son of Al-‘Aziz, was 16 years old when he succeeded,
~ io2i.
. and the affairs of State were controlled by his
^
aun tfor four years. He is said to have invited
2,660 singing girls into a mosque and to have closed the doors
and bricked them up so that all the wretched company died of
starvation. He himself died of the plague in June, 1036.
Ma‘add, or Abu Tamim Ma'add al-Mustansir bi-llah,
ascended the throne at the age of seven. His
AD * io ^ 6
mother was a Sfidani slave, and she and her
Q *
former master, Abu Jew of Tustar, practically ruled

Sa‘id, a
during Ma ‘add’s boyhood. In 1065 a
AD io 5 6
seven years’ famine began, and the distress be-
*
came so great that “at last people began to eat each other.
Passengers were caught in the streets by hooks let down from
the windows, drawn up, killed, and cooked. Human flesh was
sold in public.” In 1043 the power of the Fatimids began to
decline in Syria, and in 1060 Aleppo was lost to Egypt The
Seljuk general Atsiz conquered Palestine and entered Jerusalem
in 1071, and five years later he took Damascus, and thus
Palestine and Syria were lost to Egypt.
a Al = Musta‘li, the seventh son of Ma‘add.
A.D. 1004. tt
He died in 1 101.
i 1
The Christians regained possession of Jerm

99 io 99*
salem, and massacred 70,000 defenceless Muham-
madans.
Abu ‘All al = Mansur, commonly known as
” ,,0, •
Al-Amir.
Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, and 700 knights
99 *
were defeated by an Egyptian army.
The Crusaders became masters of Palestine
” *
and of the coast of Syria.
Baldwin invaded Egypt, burned Pelusuim, and marched on
A n 11 to Tinnis, but illness prevented his advancing
A.U. 17. funher
,, 1124. The Crusaders conquered Tyre.

Al-Amir was murdered by ten assassins as he was returning
from I s l an d of Roda ; in 1131 he was
AD n
iio
3°. succeec e(i by hig cousin, Al = Hafiz, who died
[
n October, 1149.
A.D. 1149. Az = Zafir.
AUFaiz. He died in July, 1160, aged
11 54*
eleven years.
AFAdid, the last of the Fatimid Khalifahs, succeeded at the
n ^ ne The history of this reign prac-
AD 1160
a&e -
tically resolves itself into the narrative of the

struggle for power which went on between Shawar, governor of
Upper Egypt, and Dirgham, a Lakhmi Arab, who had fought
successfully against the Crusaders at Gaza. In 1163 Amalarick,
the Christian King of Jerusalem, invaded Egypt. Shawar was
driven out by Dirgham, and fled to Nur ad-Din at Aleppo; he,
however, refused to send an expedition against Egypt.
Dirgham was defeated by Amalarick at Bilbes, aud tQ- save
—
THE RULE OF THE KHALIFAHS. 245
himself was obliged to cut the dams and flood the country.
In 1164 Ntir ad-Din sent troops with Shawar to Egypt under
the command of Shirkuh and his nephew, Salah ad-Din
(Saladin). The forces of Dirgham were defeated, his troops
forsook him, and as soon as he rode out of his fortress
the populace fell upon him, and having cut off his head
carried it in triumph through the streets. The victorious
Shawar quarrelled with Shirkuh, who promptly sent Saladin
to occupy the Delta ;
Shawar then appealed to Amala-
rick, who sent his Crusaders to Egypt, but Shirktih
managed to leave Bilbos with all his men, as a result of the
armistice which had been arranged between Nftr ad-Din and
Amalarick. In 1164 (April 18) Shirkuh and Nftr ad-Din
fought a pitched battle near Minya, and at length, after
three invasions, the former became master of Egypt and ruled
as Wazir. His opponent, Shawar, was put to death.
Salah ad = Din (Saladin) reigned 24 years, but he spent only
AD 1 16 9
Egypt. He was born at Tekrit on the
-
n 1137, and was the son of Ayyftb,
4^,45 i
a Kurdish officer in the service of the Khalifah of Baghdad.

In 1 17 1 A1 ‘Adid died, and with him perished the last of the
Fatimids. Saladin conquered Syria and annexed Mesopotamia.
He fortified Cairo with strong walls and built the Citadel, and
under his orders the eunuch Kara-kush excavated the “Well
of the Winding Stairs,” 280 feet deep in the solid rock. The
Citadel and the Gizah dyke were built with stones taken from
the small pyramids ; the old aqueduct of Cairo, which is really
Mamluk work, has been attributed to him. Saladin died on
March 4th, 1 193.
E.— The Dynasty of the Ayyubid Khalifahs.

Saladin’s successors were :
A.D. 1193. A = ‘Aziz ‘Othman, his son.

1
1198. A -Mansur Muhammad.

1
1200. Al-‘Adil Seyf-ad-din.

1218. AD Kamil Muhammad.
1238. Al = ‘Adil II.
As -Salih Ayytib, grandson of SaladinV

1240.
brother.
1249. Al-Mu‘azzam Ttiranshah.
1250. Al-Ashraf Musa.
—
F. — The Dynasty of the Bahrite Mamluks.

Louis IX collected 2,800 French knights, 5,000 archers, and
A D 1 aq
2 49
sa ^ ec^ f° r Egypt in 1,720 ships. He took
D
am i e tta, and marched on to Mansurah, but
-
here some 1,500 of the flower of his army were killed.

Subsequently he retreated to Damietta, but the Saracens
pursued him and annihilated the Christian army. It is said
that 30,000 Crusaders were slain. King Louis and the
remainder of his army were held at ransom for 10,000,000
francs, but Turanshah is said to have reduced this sum by
one-quarter.
The Mamluks derive their name from the fact that they
were originally slaves, who were either purchased or captured
in war. The Bahri Mamluks, i.e., “ the white slaves of
the river,” were thus called because they lived on the Island
of Roda, opposite Fustat. The 25 Bahri rulers were :
Shagar ad = Durr, a Queen.

Al = Mu‘izz Aybek. He was murdered in
A.D. 1250.
his bath by his wife in 1257.
I2 57*
AUMansur
‘Ali ibn Aybek. He was
November, 1259.
deposed in
A 1 Muzaffar Kutuz. He conquered the Mongols, who
A.D. I2 59«
were led by HultigCi. He was murdered in
October, 1260.
1260.
Az = Zahir Rukn ad = din Debars. He was
the first Mamluk Sultan. He died in July, 1277.
,2 77*
As = Sa‘id Baraka Khan. He abdicated
the throne, and died in 1280.
1279. AU‘Adil Salamish. He was deposed.
T279.
AUMansur Kala‘un. He built the Maristan
(completed in 1284). He died in his tent in 1290.
AUAshraf Khalil. He captured ‘Akka
1290.
(Acre), May 18th, 1292. He was murdered in
I2 93*
,2 93*
An = Nasir Muhammad. He was deposed
in a year, but restored in 1298 and 1309.
,2 94-
Al= ‘Adil Katbugha. A terrible famine
occurred in his reign.
AUMansur Lagtn. He was murdered in
1296.
January, 1299.
1298.
An = Nasir (second reign). Deposed for 10
years.
.
THE BAHRITE MAMLUKS. 247
AD 1308
Al-Muzaffar Debars II. He abdicated
3 *
and was shut up in prison in Gaza.
An = Nasir (third reign). Reigned for 30
»> 5
3 9 He died in June, 1341.
*
y ears more.
,, 1341. AUMansur Abu Bakr.
,, 1341- AUAshraf Ktiguk.
,, 1342. An = Nasir Ahmad.
,, 1342. As = Salih Isma'il.
,, 1345. Al- Kamil Sha‘ban.
,, 1346. AUMuzaffar Haggi.
An = Nasir Hasan. In his reign the plague attacked
a Egypt, and 10,000 to 20,000 people died in
* 347 *
c a i ro i n one d a y
,, 1351. As = Salih Salih.
,, *354- An = Nasir Hasan (second reign).
,, 1361. AUMansdr Muhammad.
,, 1363. AUAshraf Sha‘ban.
,, 137b. AUMansur ‘All.
As = Salih Haggi. He was deposed in 1382
” j
3g ‘by Barkftk, who founded the dynasty of the
Burgi or Circassian Mamlhks.
,, 1389. As = Salih Haggi (second reign).
— The
.
,
G. Dynasty of the Burgite, or Circassian

Mamluks.
The Burgi Sultans were all Circassians, with the exception
of two, Khushkadam and Timurbugha, who were of Greek
origin.
”
TheCircassian Mamluks obtained the name of “ Burgite
because the founders of their dynasty were quartered in the
“ Burg,” or Citadel.
A.D. 1382. Az = Zahir Barkuk. He died in 1399.
1399
» *
- Farag.
» » 1405. ‘Abd al = ‘Aziz.
Farag (second period of rule). He was exe-
» » 1 4°5*
cuted in 1412, and his body cast on a dung-heap.
> » 1412. Al = Musta‘in.
» » 1412. AUMu‘ayyad.
1421. Ahmad.
1421. Seyf = ad~din Tatar.
» » 1421. As = Salih Muhammad.
Bars -Bey captured Cyprus in 1426; he
” 1422.
died in 1438.
A.D. 1438. Al = ‘Aziz Yusuf.

1438.
Gakmak persecuted the Jews and Christians ;
he died 1453, aged 80.

in
‘Othman was deposed after a rule of six
M53- weeks.
M53- Seyf = ad = din Inal.
1461. Al = Mu‘ayyad Ahmad abdicated.
1461. Khushkadam, the Greek, abdicated.
Yel = Bey, called the “ madman,” was deposed
1467.
after a rule of two months.
, Timurbugha,a learned man, who was
” 4 7 deposed, but allowed to live at Damietta.
*
Ka’it-Bey built two mosques, and restored many monu-

ments. The plague visited Egypt in 1492,
A.D. 1468.
and 12,000 people died in one day in Cairo.
Ka’it-Bey died in 1496.
A.D 1496. An = Nasir Muhammad.
1498. Kansuh.
1500. Ganbalat.
1501. Tuman = Bey.
Kansuh al = Ghuri was killed at the battle
1501
of Aleppo, August 24th, 1516.
AUAshraf Tuman= Bey was hanged on April 14th, 1517,
AD 1 16
w ^ en T ur k s under Salim, occupied Cairo,
>
The last Abbasid Khalifah of Egypt, Mutawekkil,

died in 1538, having bequeathed his title and rights to the
Sultan of Turkey. Thus Egypt became a province of
the Turkish Empire.
VII.— TURKISH RULE IN EGYPT.

The firstgovernor of Egypt under Turkish rule was Kheyr
Bek. When Salim conquered Egypt he did his utmost to
break the power of the Mamluks, but he found it impossible
to do this, and “ he thought it wise to conciliate them, and to
appoint 24 Beys over the military provinces of that number
into which he divided Egypt, subject to the supreme control
of a Pasha, whose Council was formed of seven Turkish chiefs,
while one of the Beys held the post of Shekh al~Balad, or
Governor of the Metropolis, an officer who became an object
of hatred to the other chiefs.” This system lasted for nearly
two centuries, but the desire of each Bey to become the Pasha
of Egypt produced much intrigue and many murders. Little
FRENCH RULE. 249
by little the Beys increased their powers, and the authority of

the Pasha diminished as theirs increased. In 1768 ‘All Bey,
the Shekh al-Balad, ejected the Pasha and declared himself
ruler of Egypt ; he conquered a part of Arabia and of Syria,
but was murdered by his general, Abu Dhahab, in 1772.
In 177 3, Isma’il, Ibrahim, and Murad and other Mamluks
fought for the mastery of Egypt, and in 1790 a Turkish army
invaded Egypt and seized Cairo.
VIII. -FRENCH RULE IN EGYPT.

Napoleon Bonaparte lands near Alexandria with an armyoi
AH ! 79 g 36,000 men (July rst) storming of Alexandria ;
•
(July 5th)•
Murad meets the French in battle
;
at Embabah, opposite Cairo, with 60,000 men, but is beaten,

and about 15,000 of his men are killed. This fight is
commonly called the Battle of the Pyramids. A few days

later Nelson destroyed the French fleet in Abukir Bay.
n
. Destruction of the Turkish army by the French
f
799- a t Abukir.
Sir Sydney Smith signs a General
treaty at Al-‘Arish granting
arm Y
permission
Efleber’s to leave Egypt
A D 1800 (February
24th), but as he had to admit later
that he had exceeded his powers, and that the British
Government demanded the surrender of the whole French
army as prisoners of war, General Kleber attacked the Turks
at the village of Matariyyah and is said to have routed 70,000
men, an army six times as large as his own. A few months
later Kleber was assassinated, and General Menou became
commander-in-chief of the French army in Egypt.
Sir Ralph Abercromby lands at Abukir Bay with 17,000 men
(March 8th) battle of Alexandria and defeat
AD 18
1 01.
tke
;
flench (March 21st); the French

capitulate at Cairo (June 27th); the French capitulate at
Alexandria (August 30th) ; evacuation of Egypt by the
French (September).
England restores Egypt to the Turks. As soon as the
English left Egypt, severe conflicts took place
AD 180
between two Turkish parties in the country, the
Albanians and the Ghuzz; to the former belonged Muhammad
‘Ali.
IX.— MUHAMMAD ‘ALI AND HIS FAMILY.

Muhammad ‘Ali is elected Pasha of Egypt by the people.
Section was afterwards confirmed by the
AD 180 5 *
p or te. He was born at Cavalla, a small town
on the sea-coast of Albania, in 1769, and he served in the
Turkish army at an early age. He was sent with a body of
troops to fight against the French, and enjoyed at that time
the rank of major (bimbashi) ; he married the daughter of the
governor of his native town, and by her had three sons,
Ibrahim, Tusun, and Isma’il.
General Fraser arrived at Alexandria with 5,000 British troops
(M arc h 17th), but being unsuccessful in his
AD 180
mission, he evacuated Alexandria on Septem-
ber 14th.
Assassination of the Mamluks by Muhammad ;
Ali. These
unfortunate men were invited by Muhammad
AD 1811
Ali to attend the investiture of his son, Tusun
c
with a garment of State at the citadel on March 1st. When

they arrived they were graciously received and led into the
citadel, but as soon as they were inside the gates were closed
and Muhammad ‘Aiks soldiers fire upon them ; about
opened
470 of the Beys and were murdered, and of
their followers
all who entered only one is said to have escaped.
to Sudan led by Ismail, who

A D 1820 wasExpeditionburned to death by an Arab shekh called
Nimr (1822) at Shendi.
Muhammad ‘Ali sends about 8,000 troops to assist the Turks
a g a * nst t îe Greeks. In 1824 a false Mahdi
AD 1821
appeared near Thebes, with about 25,000 fol-
lowers, but nearly all of them were massacred by the Govern-
ment troops.
Invasion of Syria by Ibrahim, son of Muhammad ‘Ali. ‘Akka
was ^ nveste d on November 29th, but was not
AD 18 ^ 1
captured until May 27th, 1832. Ibrahim was
victorious at Emesa on July 8th, he defeated Rashid Pasha,
and destroyed the Turkish fleet so completely that Constanti-
nople was in imminent danger of capture. In 1833 the
whole of Syria was ceded to Muhammad ‘Ali, and the rule of
his son Ibrahim was firm but just. In 1839 war again broke jj
out between the Turks and Egyptians, and two years later
Syria was given back to the former. In 1847 Muhammad ‘Ali
visited Constantinople. In the course of the same year his
reasoning powers became impaired.
DYNASTY OF MUHAMMAD ;
ALI. 251
Ibrahim appointed to rule Egypt on account of his father’s

is
AD 188 health. He died after the reign of a few

4 months, but Muhammad did not die until
*
August 3rd, 1849. Muhammad ‘Ali was an able ruler, and

one who had the interest of his country at heart. He created
an army and a navy, and established equitable laws for
collecting the revenues ; he founded colleges of various kinds,
and also the famous Bulak printing press. There is no doubt
that but for the obstacles placed in his way by the British
Government, and its interference, he would have freed Egypt
entirely from Turkish misrule. His health and spirits were
broken by England when she reduced his army to 18,000 men
and forbade him to employ his fleet, which rotted away as
it lay inactive at Alexandria.
‘Abbas Pasha, the son of Tusun, the son of Muhammad
AD 18 49
‘Ah, succeeds Ibrahim. He was an incapable
*
ru j erj ancj j s sa jq t0 have been strangled at
Benha 1854.
in July,
Sa‘id Pasha, the fourth son of Muhammad ‘Ali, becomes
Though not strong ruler,
AD 18 54
ru ler of Egypt.
he was a just man, and he will be chiefly remem-
'
a
bered for having abolished a number of cruel monopolies.

In many particulars he sought to carry out his father’s plans,
and first and foremost among these must be mentioned the
building of railways in the Delta, and the enlarging of the
canals with the view of improving irrigation and of facilitating
communication. He it was who supported the project of
making the Suez Canal, and he gave M. de Lesseps the
concession for it. He founded the Bulak Museum, and
encouraged excavations on the sites of the ancieht cities of
Egypt-
a
Isma‘il, son of Ibrahim Pasha, and grandson of Muhammad
‘Ah» becomes ruler of Egypt; he was born in
AD 186
1830, and by a decree of the Sultan, dated
May 14th, 1867, was made Khedive* of Egypt. In the
early years of the rule of this remarkable man everything
seemed to go well, and the material welfare of the country of
Egypt appeared to be secured. Apparently Ismail was
straining every nerve to rule his country according to Western
ideas of justice and progress. Railways were built, schools
were opened, trade of every kind was fostered, and agricul-
w . G ' J>
* The Arabic form of the title is Khudewiy .

ture, upon which the prosperity of Egypt depends, was

encouraged to a remarkable degree. The making of the
Suez Canal, which was begun in 1859, was carried on with
great zeal under his auspices (as well as the Fresh Water
Canal, which was begun in 1858 and finished in 1863), and
the work was successfully accomplished in 1869. But the
various enterprises in which he embarked cost large sums
mone y> an d towards the end of 1875 his
A D 18
amounted to
liabilities ^77,667,569 sterling.
The salaries of the officials were in arrear, and the Treasury bills
were shunned by all. In this year he sold 176,602 Suez Canal
shares to the British Government for ^3,976,582 sterling ;
these shares are now worth over 25 millions sterling.
In 1878 M. Waddington, the French Minister of Foreign
-A flairs, urged Lord Derby to co-operate with
AD 18 7 8 *
France in an attempt to put the finances of
Egypt on a sounder basis, and a Commission of Inquiry was
instituted by the Decree of March 30th, under the presidency
of Mr. Fivers Wilson. In April Ismail was obliged to find
the sum of ^*1,200,000 to pay the May coupon of the
Unified Debt, and it is said that he did so by the familiar
process of “ squeezing ” the native. The labours of the Com-
mission proved that “ the land tenures were so arranged that
the wealthier proprietors evaded a great portion of the land
tax, and the system of forced labour was applied in a way which
was ruinous to the country.” (Royle, Egyptian Campaigns ,
p. 6.) Ismail had built himself palaces everywhere, and he

and his family had become possessed of one = fifth of the
best of the land of Egypt. The taxes were collected with great
cruelty and injury to the native, and peculation and bribery
were rampant everywhere. In August of this year a Cabinet
was formed with Nubar Pasha at the head, with Rivers
Wilson as Minister of Finance, and M. de Blignieres as
Minister of Public Works. At this time Ismail announced
that he was, in future, determined to rule the country through
a Council of Ministers. It must be remembered that the debt
of Egypt at this time was about ^90,000,000.
On February 18th, 1879, Nubar Pasha and his Cabinet were,
owing to the machinations of Ismail, mobbed
AD 18
by about 2,500 officers and men at the Ministry
of Finance, but at the critical moment Ismail himself appeared,
and the uproar ceased. At the same time, however, he told
the European Consuls-General that unless more power were
DYNASTY OF MUHAMMAD 4
ALI. 253
given to him he would not be responsible for what might happen.

Soon after this he issued a Decree to raise the
AD 18
number of men in the army to 60,000, and in
April he reduced the interest on the Debt. When Nubar Pasha
resigned his office, Ismail appointed his own son, Tawfik, as
Prime Minister, but soon after this he dismissed the whole
Cabinet and appointed a set of native Ministers with Sherif
Pasha as Prime Minister. As a result of this truly Oriental
proceeding, England and France, after much hesitation,
demanded the deposition of Ismail from the Sultan. About
this time Ismail sent large bribes to the Sultan, but these
availed him nothing, and on June 25th Mr. Lascelles, the
British Consul-General, and M. Tricon, the French Consul-
General, together with Sherif Pasha, waited upon Ismail to
inform him that he must at once abdicate in obedience to
the orders of his sovereign master, the Sultan, which had
been received from Constantinople. Ismail, of course,
refused to do this, but about 10.30 a m. a telegram addressed
to Ismail Pasha, late Khedive of Egypt, was received at
the Abdin Palace, and it was taken to him by Sherif Pasha,
who called upon his master to resign in favour of Tawfik
Pasha. Almost at the same hour Tawfik received at the
Ismalliyyah Palace a telegram addressed to Muhammad Tawfik,
Khedive of Egypt, and when he went to the Abdin Palace with
Sherif Pasha, who had come from there to tell him about the
|
telegram to Ismail, he found his father ready to salute and to
wish him better fortune than he himself had enjoyed. On
Monday, June 30th, Ismail left Egypt in the Khedivial yacht
for Smyrna, taking with him a large sum of money and about
300 women; in 1887 he settled in Constantinople, where he
died in 1895. Under Tawfik’s rule the Control was restored,
and on September 4th Riaz Pasha became Prime Minister.
Commission of Liquidation appointed, and a number of
re f° rms including a reduction of the taxes, are
A D 1880
made.
>
A rebellion headed by Ahmad Arabi or “ Arabi Pasha ” and

ot h ers b rea k s °ut. Arabi was born in the year
AD 1881
1840 in Lower Egypt, and was the son of
a peasant farmer. He offended Ismail, and was accused of
malpractices and misappropriation of army stores, but this the
despot forgave him, and promoted him to the rank of colonel,
and gave him a royal slave to wife. Arabi was the leader of
a secret society, the aim of which was to free Egypt from
2 54 SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY.
foreign interference and control, and to increase the army, and

AH Gfi make Tawfik appoint an Egyptian to the office
1
of Minister of War in the place of Osman Rifki.
These facts coming to the notice of the authorities, Arabi and
two of his colleagues were ordered to be arrested, and when
this had been done, and they had been taken to the barracks
in Cairo for examination, the soldiers who were in their
companies rushed into the rooms and rescued them. The
rebel officers and men next went to the palace where Tawfik
was, and compelled him to grant their requests, and to do
away with the cause of their dissatisfaction.
H.E. ‘Abbas Hilmi Pasha, the eldest son of Tawfik Pasha,
became Khedive of Egypt. The investiture
AD 182^ took place on April 14 at the Abdin Palace.
*
X.— BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT.

On February 2nd of Tawfik was called upon to form
this year
a new Cabinet, and Arabi became Minister of
A D 1882 War, and Mahmud Sami was appointed President
of the Council ; Arabi was created a Pasha by the Sultan, and
his power became paramount. In May a serious dispute arose
between Arabi and his colleagues and the Khedive and on ;
the 19th and 20th three British and three French vessels
arrived at Alexandria. On May 25th the Consuls-General of
England and France demanded the resignation of Mahmud
Sami’s Cabinet and the retirement of Arabi from the country.
These demands were conceded on the following day, but
shortly after Tawfik reinstated Arabi, with the view of main-
taining order and the tranquillity of the country. “On June
3rd three more British and three more French warships arrived
at Alexandria. On June nth a serious riot broke out at
Alexandria, and the British Consul was stoned and nearly
beaten to death, and Mr. Ribton, a missionary, and a British
naval officer and two seamen, were actually killed. ” The
massacre had been threatened by Mahmhd Sami, and the riot
was pre-arranged, and the native police and soldiery were
parties to the murders of the Europeans which took place
on that day. Mr. Royle (.Egyptian Campaigns p. 54) estimates ,
the number of Europeans killed at 150. On June 25th the

Sultan decorated Arabi with the Grand Order of the Medjidieh !
On July nth, at 7 a.m. the bombardment of Alexandria

was begun- by- FPM.S. “ Alexandra ” firing a shell into the
;
BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT. 2 55
newly-made fortifications of the city, and the other British

“Superb,” “ Sultan,” “Teme-
ships, “ Inflexible,”
An 1
ce 2
*
raire, “Invincible, “ Monarch,” and “ Pene-
77 77
lope/' soon after opened fire. After the bombardment was

over, the city was plundered and set on fire by the natives, and
an idea of the damage done may be gained from the fact that the
Commission of Indemnities awarded the claimants the sum of
^4,341,011 sterling (Royle, op. cit., p. 102). On July 14th
British seamen were landed to protect the city, and on the 15th
many forts were occupied by them. Early in August Arabi
was removed from his post, and he at once began to prepare
to resist the English soldiers who were known to be on their way
to Egypt on August 15th Sir Garnet Wolseley arrived in Egypt
;
on the 1 8th the British fleet arrived at Port Sa‘id; on the 20th
the British seized the Suez Canal, and the British Government
was declared by M. de Lesseps to have paid to him ^100,000
for loss of business! (Royle, op. cit., p. 152.) On Sept. 13th
Sir Garnet Wolseley was victorious at Tell aDKabir, at a cost
of about 460 British officers and men ; the Egyptians lost about
2,000, and several hundreds were wounded. On the 15th,
Cairo was occupied by the British, and the 10,000 Egyptian
soldiers there submitted without fighting. On December 26th
Arabi left Egypt for exile in Ceylon.
A rebellion led by the Mahdi breaks out in the Sudan. The
Mahdi was one Muhammad Ahmad, a carpen-
AD 188
ter, who was born between 1840 and 1850; his
native village was situated near the island of Arko, in the
province of Donkola, and, though poor, his parents declared
that they belonged to the Ashraf, or “ nobility/ and claimed
7
to be descendants of Muhammad the Prophet. His father

was a religious teacher, and had taught him to read and write.
He studied at Berber under Muhammad al-Kher, and later at
Khartum under the famous Shekh Muhammad Sherif, and
when he became a man he led a life of great asceticism on the
island of Aba, or Abba, in the White Nile. His piety and
learning secured for him a great reputation in the Sudan, and
the greater number of the inhabitants sided with him in a
serious quarrel which he had with Muhammad Sherif. He
wandered about preaching against the Christians, and he
declared that the decay in the Muhammadan religion was due
to the contact of Arabs with Christians, that true faith was
dead, and that he was deputed by God to restore it. He then
attached a number of important people to himself, and, having
retired to Abba Island, he declared himself to be the

“Mahdi,”
k e i n g> whose advent had been foretold by
°r
A D 188
Muhammadan writers, who would restore the
religion of the Arabs to its former purity. In July, 1881, Rauf
Pasha, the Governor-General of the Sudan, sent for him to
come to Khartum, but the Mahdi refused, and six weeks later
he and his followers defeated the Government troops which had
been sent to bring him, and slew half of them. In December
he defeated Rashid Bey, the Governor of Fashoda, and slew
nearly all the 400 soldiers whom he had with him at Kaddir.
In April, 1882, Giegler Pasha, the temporary Governor-
General, next attacked the Mahdi, and under his able general-
ship considerable loss was inflicted on the rebels ; but on
June 7th the Mahdi and his Dervishes massacred the com-
bined forces of ‘Abd-Allah and Yusuf Pasha, and in September
he besieged Al-‘Obed, which capitulated on January 17th,
1883. In the same month Colonel W. Hicks, a retired
Indian officer, was appointed head of the army in the
Sudan, and on February 7th he left Cairo for Khartum via
Berber, which he reached on March 1st; in April he set
out against the Dervishes, and on the last day of the
month he defeated about 4,000 of them and killed about
500. On September 9th he set out with reinforcements for
Duwem, intending to recapture Al-‘Obed, but early in
November the Mahdi attacked his force of about 10,000 men
with some 40,000 soldiers from the old Egyptian army, and the
gallant Englishman and his officers and men, who were suffering
greatly from want of water, were cut to pieces. Hicks had
been led astray in a waterless country near Kashgil by his guides,
who then ran away and left him. He wandered about for three
days looking for water, and then by chance entered into the
forest of Shekan, where the Mahdi lay waiting for him. When
Hicks was overthrown he was within a mile of a lake of fresh
water. Thus the Mahdi became master of the Sudan.
In Februaiy Baker Pasha set out with about 3,800 men to
re ^ eve
Sinkat, but his motley troops were
AD 188 4
defeated at Tokar, and about 2,400 of them
*
slain, and thousands of rifles and much ammunition fell into

the hands of the Dervishes. In January of this year Charles
George Gordon (born January 28th, 1833, murdered at
Khartum on Monday, January 26th, 1885, a little before
daybreak) was sent to Khartum to arrange for the evacuation
Qf the Sudan ; he left Cairo on January 26th and arrived there
;
THE MAHDi. 2 57
On February 28th, General Graham defeated

on February 18th.
AH OQ At = Teb, and nearly 1,000 of
the Dervishes at
1
them were slain. On March 13th he defeated
* #
Osman Dikna’s* army at Tamai and killed about 2,500

of his men; Osman’s camp was burnt, and several hundred
thousand of the cartridges which had been taken from Baker
Pasha were destroyed. On the 27th, Tamanib was occupied
by Graham and then burnt. About the middle of April the
Mahdi began to besiege Gordon in Khartum, and prepara-
tions for a relief expedition were begun in England in May
this expedition was placed (August 26th) under Sir Garnet
Wolseley, who decided to attempt to reach Khartum by
ascending the Nile. This route made it necessary to travel
1,700 miles against the stream, and six cataracts, and other
natural barriers, made the progress extremely slow ; General
Sir F. Stephenson, the highest authority on the subject,
advised the route via Sawakin and Berber, and by it troops
could have entered Khartum some months before Gordon was
murdered. On the other hand, it has been urged that, as
the town of Berber surrendered on May 26th, the main
reason for an advance along the Sawakin-Berber road was
taken Sudan Campaign Part I, p. 25).
away ( ,
The expe-
j
dition consisted of 7,000 men, and all of them had reached
Wadi Halfah by the end of November. On December 2nd
the troops at Donkola set out for Korti, which was reached
bv Sir Herbert Stewart on the 13th of the same month.
Here it was decided to send a part of the force to
Khartum across the desert, via Matammah, and a part by way
of the river. On December 30th Sir Herbert Stewart set out
with about 1,100 officers and men, and on January 2nd
he seized the Gakdul Wells, 95 miles from Korti ;
A.D. 1005. Qne ie re t urn ed with the greater part
a ^ter j
of his force to Korti (January 5th) to fetch further supplies,

having left 400 men at Gakdtal to build forts and to guard
the wells. On the 8th he again set out for Gakdtal, and on
the 1 6th he reached a spot about four miles from the wells
i of Abu Klea,t and 23 miles from Matammah ; next day the
famous battle of Abfi Klea was fought, and 1,500 British
soldiers defeated 11,000 Dervishes. The Dervishes suc-
* I.e., “Osman of the beard”; he is the son of a Turkish merchant
and slave dealer whosettled in the Eastern Sudan early in the 19th century.
Abu
t More correctly Talih,
y U a place abounding in acacia trees.
R
;
ceeded in breaking the British square, but every one of them

W ^° n WaS kilted, and 1,100 of their dead
AD * 1 88 5
*
*
W ere counted near it; the number of their

wounded was admitted by them to have been very large. On
the 1 8th General Stewart moved on towards Matammah and,
after a march which lasted all day and all night, again fought the
Dervishes on the 19th, and killed or wounded 800; in this
fight, however, he received the wound of which he died. On
the 20th Abu Kru, or Gubat, was occupied by the British
on the 2 1 st Sir Charles Wilson attempted to take Matammah,
but the force at his command was insufficient for the purpose. |
On the 22nd the British soldiers began to build two forts at

Abft Kru; on the 23rd Sir C. Wilson began to make the
steamers ready to go to Khartfim ; and on the 24th he set
out with two steamers and twenty men. Four days later he
came to Tuti Island and found that Khartum was in the hands
of the Mahdi, whereupon he ordered his vessels to turn and
run down the river with all speed ; when they were out of
the reach of the enemy’s fire, Sir C. Wilson stopped them
and sent out messengers to learn what had happened, and
it was found that Khartum had fallen on the night of
the 25th, and that Gordon had been murdered a little
before daybreak on the 26th. In short, the Relief Expedition
was sanctioned too late, and when it started for Khartum it
went by the wrong route ; the fate of Gordon himself was sealed
by the inexplicable delay of the British at Gubat from January
20th to 24th. The Mahdi did not begin to move his troops
over to Khartum until he heard that the British had stopped
at Gubat, and the transport was not finished until Sunday even-
ing, the 25th. Had the British steamers left Gubat on the 22nd
even, they could have rescued Gordon easily, but they did not
leave till the 24th, and the delay of four days was fatal. Gordon’s
head was cut off and taken to the Mahdi, but his body was left in
the garden for a whole day, and thousands of Dervishes came and
plunged their spears into it ; later the head was thrown into a
well. On February 13th the British troops, including those
which had marched with General Buller to Gubat, retreated to
Abu Klea. and a fortnight later they set out for Korti, which
they reached on March 1st. The portion of the British troops
which attempted to reach Khartum by river left Korti on
December 28th, 1884, and reached Berti on February 1st,
1885, and on the 9th was fought the battle of Kirbekan
in which Geneial Earle was shot dead. On the 17th the
DEATH OF THE MAHDf. 2 59
house, palm trees, and water-wheels of Suleman Wad Kamr,

n who murdered Colonel Stewart, were destroyed,
' * 1
and on the 24th, orders having been received to
withdraw, the river column made ready to return to Korti, which
was reached on the 8th of March. When it was seen that Lord
Wolseley’s expedition had failed to bring Gordon from Khartum,
it was decided by the British Government to break the power
of Osman Dikna, and with this object in view the Sawakin
Expedition was planned. On February 17th, 1885, the
British Government made a contract with Messrs. Lucas
and Aird to construct a railway of 4 feet 8^ inches gauge
from Sawakin to Berber.* On the 20th General Graham
was placed in command of the Sawakin Field Force,
which consisted of about 10,500 officers and men. On
March 20th General Graham fought an action at Hashin,
and two days later a fierce fight took place at Tofrik,
between Sawakin and Tamai. General McNeill was attacked
by about 3,000 Dervishes, of whom 1,000 were killed, but
the British loss was, relatively, considerable. In May the
British Government recalled Graham’s expedition, and aban-
doned the making of the railway to Berber, and thus
Osman Dikna was again able to boast that he had driven the
English out of the country (Royle, Egyptian Campaigns p. 436). ,
On June 22nd, the death of the Mahdi occurred; he

was succeeded by ‘Abd-Allah, commonly known as the
“ Khalifah.” In July the last of the British troops of
Lord Woiseley’s expedition left Donkola ; by the end of
September nearly the whole of the country as far north as
Wadi Halfah was in the hands of the Khalifah, and it was
seen that, unless checked, the Dervishes would invade Egypt.
'The late General Sir F. Stephenson and General Sir Francis
(now Field-Marshal Lord) Grenfell attacked them at Koshah
and Ginnis on December 30th, and about 1,000 of the
Khalifah’s troops were killed and wounded.
Towards the close of this year Osman Dikna withdrew from
Sawakin to Omdurman, partly because the Arabs
A D 1886 about Sawakin had defeated his troops and
occupied Tamai, and partly because he hoped for much benefit
from the Khalifah’s attack on Egypt.
In June Osman Dikna returned to Sawakin with about 2,000
Bakkarah Dervishes, but failed to move the
AD 188 7
people of the country ; in the following month
*
* See Parliamentary Paper C-4325, 1885 (Suakim-Berber Railway).

R 2
26 o SUMMARY OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY.
he returned to Omdurman, but hearing that the Egyptian

garrison at Sawakin had been reduced, he returned with 5,000
men and determined to capture the city.
On January 17th Colonel (now Lord) Kitchener, at the head of
A D 1888 some fri en dly Arabs, attacked and captured the
Dervish camp, but eventually the Dervishes re-

formed and turned the Egyptian victory into a defeat. On
December 20th General Sir Francis Grenfell, with reinforce-
ments, attacked Osman Dikna’s troops and killed and wounded
500 of them.
In April Wad an = Nagumi had advanced as far north as Hafir
AD a b° ut 5> 000 m en, and another 1,000 were

188
at Sarras, only about 33 miles south of Wadi
Halfah. On
July 1st Colonel Wodehouse, with about 2,000
Egyptian soldiers, defeated the Dervishes, under Wad
an-Nagumi, at Argin, near Wadi Halfah, killing 900 and taking
500 prisoners. On the 5th, General Grenfell left Cairo for the
south with reinforcements, and made arrangements to meet the
attack of Wad an-Nagumi, who, undaunted by his defeat at
Argin, was marching north ; and on August 1st this redoubtable
warrior collected his force of 3,300 men and 4,000 followers
on the hills to the south of Tushki, or Toski. On
the 3rd General Grenfell disposed his British and Egyptian
troops in such a way as to check the advance of Wad an-
Nagumi, who, however, only wished to get away and not to
fight. He was at length forced to fight, and he fought
bravely, but General Grenfell's tactics were so thoroughly
well planned and carried out, that the Dervish force was
completely routed and destroyed. About 1,200 were killed
and 4,000 were taken prisoners, and the Egyptian loss only
amounted to 25 killed and 140 wounded. The effect on
the country was marvellous, for, as Mr. Royle says (op. cit.,
p. .485), “The victory of Toski marked the turning point
in the invasion, and was a shock to the cause of Mahdiism,
which it took years to recover." The Dervish reinforcements
beat a hasty retreat, and the Khalifah suspended all further
operations for the invasion of Egypt.
A n ~ Osman Dikna continued to make raids upon

1 90. g aw £kj n from Tokar.
In January, Colonel (now Sir C.) Holled-Smith set out to
attac k Osman Dikna, and on February 19th
AD 18 ^ 1
he routed the enemy at Tokar, killing 700 men.
*
THE DERVISHES ROUTED. 26l
Osman Dikna continued to harass the Arabs round Sawakin,

d ma<^ e ra ^ s wherever he thought he
AD 18 9 2-18
- 95
ar,
h ac an y c hance of success.
-
i On January
7th, 1892, the Khedive, Tawfik Pasha, died after a short
illness at Helwan, and he was succeeded by his eldest son,
‘Abbas II. Hilmy ; the Imperial Firman from the Porte
confirming his succession cost about ^6,154, and was read on
April 14th.
In the early part of this year Osman Dikna’s forces were
attacked and defeated with great loss by
An 1
c a
^ Colonel Lloyd, Major Sydney, and Captain
Fenwick. On February 29th the Italians were defeated by
the Abyssinians with severe loss atAdowa, and the Italian
garrison at Kasala was in imminent danger from the
Dervishes. With a view of assisting Italy by making it
necessary for the Dervishes to turn their attention elsewhere,
the British Government determined to advance to ‘Ukasha
(Akasha) and Donkola. In the hands of General Kitchener,
who had succeeded General Grenfell as Sirdar of the Egyptian
Army in April, 1892, the conduct of the new Stidan
Expedition was placed. On March 21st he left Cairo for
*he south, and the first serious skirmish between the Dervishes
and Egyptians took place on May 1st. Early in June the
Sirdar divided his forces, and one column marched upon
Ferket bv way of the river, and another across the desert.
I On June 7th the two columns joined hands, and a fierce
fight ensued. The Sirdar’s arrangements were so skilfully
made and carried out, that the Dervishes were utterly
routed ; they lost about 1,000 killed and wounded, and
500 were made prisoners. Among the killed were about 40
of their chief men. The Egyptian loss was 100 killed and
wounded. On September 19th the Sirdar occupied Hafir
after a fight, and four days later the Egyptian troops entered
Donkola; Dabbah, Korti, and Marawi were next occupied,
and the country as far as the foot of the Fourth Cataract was
once more in the hands of the Egyptians.
Early in this year the decision to make the Wadi Halfah and
Abu-Hamed Railway was arrived at, for the
AD 18 97-
Si r(5 ar regarded it as absolutely necessary; by
this route nearly 350 miles of difficult river transport would be
avoided. When the railway had advanced considerably more
than half-way to AbCi-IJamed, General Hunter marched from
Marawi to Abu-Hamed and defeated the Dervishes, who held
262 DEFEAT OF THE KHAlIfAH.
it in force, and occupied it on August 7th. Of the Dervish

garrison of 1,500 men, about 1,300 were killed and wounded.
Soon afterwards the Dervishes evacuated Berber, which
was entered by General Hunter on September 13th. On
October 31st the railway reached Abu-Hamed.
On April 8th, Good
Friday, the Sirdar utterly defeated the
An a a great under Mahmud at the
Dervish force
1
^ Battle of the Atbara* ; the Dervish loss
was about 3,000 killed and 2,000 were taken prisoners, while
the Sirdar’s loss was under 600 killed and wounded. The
forces engaged on each side were about 14,000. On Septem-
ber 2nd the capture of Omdurman and the defeat of the
Khalifah ‘Abdu-Allahi were accomplished by the Sirdar. The
Khalifah’s forces numbered at least 50,000, and those of the
Sirdar about 22,000. The Dervish loss was at least 11,000
killed and 16,000 wounded, and over 4,000 were made
prisoners ; the Sirdar’s loss was rather more than 400 killed
and wounded. The Khalifah escaped and fled south, having
first taken care to bury his treasure ; the body of the Mahdi
was removed from its tomb, and burnt, and the ashes were
thrown into the Nile; the head is said to be buried at
Wadi Halfah. The tomb was destroyed because, if leffc
untouched, it would always have formed a centre for religious
fanaticism and sedition. On Sunday, September 4th, the
Sirdar held a memorial service for General Gordon at
Khartum, when the British and Egyptian flags were hoisted.
On the 19th the Sirdar hoisted the Egyptian and British flags
at Fa-shoda, which had been occupied by Major Marchand, the
head of a French expedition, who sought to claim as a right a
position on the Nile on behalf of France. On September 22nd
Colonel Parsons defeated the Dervishes at Kadaref (Gadaref).
On December 7th Colonel Collinson occupied Kalabat
(Galabat), and hoisted the British and Egyptian flags by the
side of the Abyssinian flag on the old fort there. On Decem-
ber 26th Colonel Lewis defeated Ahmad Fadil, near Dakhilah,
and killed 500 of his men.
On January 7th Colonel Nason occupied Fa-maka and Fa-zogli.
AD Gn J anuar y 2 5 th General F. W. Kitchener
18
set out to catch the Khalifah, who had fled
towards Kordofan, but his expedition failed for want of water.
In November it was said that the Khalifah was at Gebel Kadir,
* All the vowels are short in this name in Ethiopic and Amharic,
;
however, the name is pronounced “ Atbara.”

DEATH OF MR. JOHN M. COOK. 263
which lies to the north-west of Fa-shoda, on the west bank

an<^ a b° ut 160 miles from the river.
A D 18 yy*
^he Sirdar pursued with a large force, but the
Khalifah fled towards Khartum, On November 22nd Colonel
(now Sir) F. R. Wingate (now Sirdar of the Egyptian army)
pursued him to Abba Island on the Nile, and learning that he
was encamped at Umm
Dabrekat, attacked him on the 24th.
After a fierce but short fight in the early morning Colonel
Wingate defeated the Khalifah, killing over 600 of his
men, and taking 3,000 prisoners, besides 6,000 women and
children. The Khalifah met his fate like a man, and, seeing
that all was lost, seated himself upon a sheepskin with his
chief Emirs, and with them fell riddled with bullets. The
Egyptian loss was 4 killed and 29 wounded. The death of
the Khalifah gave the death-blow to Mahdiism. On December
17th Al-Obed was occupied by Colonel Mahon, D.S.O. On
December 22nd Sir Reginald Wingate was appointed Sirdar
and Governor-General of the Shdan.
f* On March 4th of this- year, Mr. John M. Cook, the late
head of the firm of Thomas Cook and Son, died at Walton-on-
Thames. The services which he rendered to the Egyptian
Government were very considerable. In the Gordon Relief
Expedition his firm transported from Asyut to Wadi Halfah,
a distance of about 550 miles, Lord Wolseley’s entire force,
which consisted of 11,000 British and 7,000 Egyptian troops,
800 whalers, and 130,000 tons of stores and war materials.
In 1885, 1886, and 1896 his firm again rendered invaluable
services to the Government, and one is tempted to regret,
;
with Mr. Royle ( The Egyptian Campaigns p. 554), that, ,
in view of the melancholy failure of the Gordon Relief

Expedition, his contract include the rescue of
did not
I Gordon and the Sfidan garrisons. He
transported the wounded
to Cairo by water after the battle of Tell al-Kebir, and when
the British Army in Egypt was decimated by enteric fever,
conveyed the convalescents by special steamers up the Nile,
|
and made no charge in either case except the actual cost of
running the steamers. He was greatly beloved by the natives,
and the Luxor Hospital, which he founded, is one of the many
evidences of the interest which he took in their welfare
I
Thousands of natives were employed in his service, and it would

i
he estimate the benefits which accrued indirectly
difficult to
to hundreds of families in all parts of the country through his
energy and foresight. He was the pioneer of the improvements
I
264 OSMAN DIKNA’S FATE.
which have taken place at Luxor in recent years, and he was a

generous both with influence
AD 18
supporter,
and with his money, of every scheme which he
his
believed would improve the position of the Egyptians, and would

enable them to rise from the depths of the poverty and misery
into which they had fallen through misgovernment and the
cruelty and oppression of their Turkish rulers. Justice was
the one thing which he believed to be necessary for the salvation
of the Egyptian, and all his personal efforts were for many years
directed against the corrupt practices which in 1883 were well-
nigh universal. His fearless exposure of shams, his shrewdness,
his moral strength and integrity, and his unswerving resolu-
tion, enabled him to carry out the reforms which many others
had failed to effect.
In January Osman Dikna was in hiding near Tokar, and
A d Muhammad ‘Ali, the loyal Gamilab Shekh,

00
1900.
1
founc| t |iat entered his country.
Captain F. Burges and Ahmad Bey left Sawakin on
January 8 th and
10th respectively, and a few days
later they arrived at the Warriba range, which lies about
90 miles to the south-west of Sawakin and there Osman was ;
seen, apparently waiting to partake of a meal from a recently

killed sheep. At the sight of his pursuers he fled up a hill,
but was soon caught, and was despatched from Sawakin in
the s.s. “ Berbera,” and arrived at Suez on January 25th,
en route for Rosetta, where he was imprisoned for some years.
He has been released, and now lives at Geli, a little to the
north of Khartum. On September 25th Slatin Pasha was
appointed British Inspector of the Sfidan. On November 2nd
Major Hobbs opened a branch of the Bank of Egypt at Khartum.
On November 29th, Colonel Sparkes set out from Omdurman
to occupy the Bahr al-Ghazal Province. On December 31st,
1900, the outstanding capital of the Egyptian Debt amounted
to ^103,7 10,000, of which ^7,273,000 was held by the Debt
Commissioners, leaving a balance in the hands of the public
of ^'9 6 ,437,°c°-
Early in 1901, Tong, Waw, Rumbek, Amadi, Kiro, Shambi,
Zuber, Forga, Telgona, and other places in
AD 1 9°
I 01I ?
the Bahr Al-Ghaz&l Province were occupied.
*
The revenue was Ê. 12,160,000 and the expenditure

£E.i 1,396,000, leaving a surplus of Ê. 1,460,000 in excess of
the estimates, which were 10, 700,000 and Ê.i 0,636,000
respectively. The net financial result was a surplus of
PROGRESS IN EGYPT. 265
Ê. 700,000. The balance standing to the credit of the General
AD R eserve Fund
was, on December 31st, 1901,
1 9 01 ’
Ê. 3, 795,000, and on the same date the sum of
Ê. 1, 287,000 stood to the credit of the Special Reserve Fund.
Debt to the extent of ^445,000 was paid off in 1901, and on
December 31st, 1901, the outstanding capital of the Debt
amounted to ^103,265,000, ^95,000,000 being in the hands
of the On March 1st postal savings banks were
public.
opened 27 first-class post offices; the rate of interest
at
allowed is 2J per cent, per annum. The number of depositors
was 6,740, and the amount deposited Ê.87, 000. Of Domains
lands, 13,764 acres were sold for ^2
19,000, leaving in the
hands of the Commissioners 165,051 acres valued at
^3,330,454. Profit on railways amounted to £E. 150,000.
The new Port Sa‘id Railway was estimated to cost between
Ê. 350,000 and ^’E.400,000. The profit on telegraphs was
Ê. 12,000. Of salt, 52,221 tons were sold; the revenue was
£E. 223,000. The imports amounted to Ê. 154, 245,000 and
the exports to Ê. 15, 730,000. The tobacco imported weighed
6,120,548 kilos, and the tambak 325,661 kilos. the quantity ;
exported was 529,034 kilos., which is equivalent to 380,000,000

cigarettes. The profit on the Post Office was Ê.28,000.
About Ê. 490, 000 were spent on irrigation works. On the
Aswan Dam £E. 900, 000 were spent, and on the Asyut Barrage
£E. 800, 000. The total number of men called out for the
corvee was 8,763 for 100 days. The Cairo roads cost in upkeep
Ê. 10,772, and Ê. 12 7,000 were spent on public buildings.
There was a general increase in crime, 2,382 cases being
reported. Prison administration cost Ê.60,000. In Egypt
slavery was practically non-existent. There were 23,447
in-patients in Government hospitals. The Zoological Gardens
were visited by 52,7 1 1 persons, and the gate money amounted to
Ê.1,114. The fees paid by tourists for visiting the temples,
etc.,mounted to Ê.3,213. On the preservation of Arab and
Coptic monuments Ê. 7,000 were spent. Lord Cromer
reported that the year “was one of steady and normal
progress. . . . The fiscal system has been placed on a sound
footing. The principal irrigation works are either completed
or are approaching completion. Means of locomotion,
both by rail and road, have been improved and extended.
The institution of slavery
is virtually defunct. The corvee has
been abolished.
practically Although both the judicial
system and the organization of the police admit of further
266 PROGRESS IN EGYPT.
improvement, it may be said that law and order everywhere reign

su P reme The courbash is no longer employed as
AD i
I o Ii
^° *
-
an instrument of government. The army is effi-

cient and the abuses which existed under the old
well organized ;
recruiting system have been swept away. New prisons and

reformatories have been built. The treatment of prisoners is in
conformity with the principles generally adopted in Europe ; the
sick man can be nursed in a well-equipped and well-managed
hospital ;
the lunatic is no longer treated like a wild beast.
Means have been provided shake
for enabling the peasantry to
themselves free from the grip of the money lenders. A very
great impulse has been given to education in all its branches.
In a word, all the main features of Western civilization have
been introduced with such adaptations as have been necessi-
tated by local requirements. Broadly speaking, it may be said
that all that is now required in Egypt is to persevere in the
course which has been already traced out, and to gradually
introduce into the existing system such requirements as time
and experience may show to be necessary.”
The revenue was 12, 148,000, the expenditure
A D 1002 ^.11,432,000, and the surplus Ê.716,000,
^ *
being £E. 5 06,000 in excess of the estimate.
The balance standing to the credit of the General Reserve
Eund was, on December 31st, 1902, Ê.2,931,000, and on
the same date the sum of Ê. 1,678,000 stood to the
credit of the Special Reserve Fund. Debt to the extent
of ^527,000 was paid off in the course of the year, and on
December 31st, 1902, the outstanding capital of the Debt
amounted to ^103,245,000, ^94,471,000 being in the hands
of the public. The Government 'lent to the Fellahin, or
peasant farmers, the sum of Ê. 202,942, the number of
borrowers being 34,532. The balances on deposit in the
Post Office Savings Bank increased from Ê.38,000 to
Ê.86,000, the number of depositors being 13,587. The
debt on the Domains Administration was reduced to
£E. 1,932,000. The amount of French capital invested
in Egypt was more than ^57,000,000. The net receipts
from the railways were Ê. 1,059,000, and
the Kena-
Aswan Railway brought Ê.60,000. The profit on tele-
in
graphs was Ê. 14,000, and on telephones Ê. 1,350. Out of
5,097,431 acres of land, 554,409 were held by Europeans.
The circulation of notes amounted to Ê. 116,000.
About 53,425 tons of salt were sold, and the royalties were
Ê. 181,000. The value of the imports was Ê. 14,2 11,000,
an d of the exports 1 7,6 1 7,000. Theeggsex-
A D 1 9 02 ported numbered
*
The total amount
79,500,000.
of tobacco withdrawn from bond was 6,336,700 kilos., and of
tambak 379,100 54 per cent, came from Turkey, 33*5 per cent,
:
from Greece, and 12*5 per cent, from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The average consumption per head was 1 lb. 6 ozs. ; the
number of cigarettes exported amounted to 385,000,000.
The profit from the Post Office was Ê. 3 7,500. The amount
of unirrigated land was 143,000 acres, as compared with
947.000 in 1877. The number of men employed in corvee
work was 4,970 for 100 days. About Ê. 5 0,000 were spent
on repairs of Government buildings, Ê. 154,000 on new
buildings, and Ê. 79, 000 on drainage. The number of
persons in prison was 9,256. During the year 238 slaves
were freed. There were 22,717 patients in the Government
hospitals. In all, 1,489 deaths from cholera occurred in
Cairo.
The revenue was Ê. 12,464,000, and the expenditure
1 1,720,000, and the surplus Ê.744,000,
A D iooi
y being 7 19,000 in excess of the estimates.
Fund was on December 31st, 1903, ;£E. 2, 76 1,000, and on
the same date the sum of £E. 2, 128,000 stood to the credit
of the Special Reserve Fund. The value of. the sums
invested on behalf of the Conversion Economies Fund was
Ê.5,507,000, as against Ê. 4, 991, 000 in 1902. Debt to
the extent of ^1,289,000 was paid off during the year, and
on December 31st, 1903, the outstanding capital of the
Debt amounted to ^102, 187,000, ^93,383,000 being in
the hands of the public. On December 31st the loans to
the Fellahin amounted to £E. 2, 186,746, the number of
borrowers being 78,911 persons. The debt on the
Domains Administration was reduced to Ê. 1,685,042,
and that on the Daira Administration was reduced to
about Ê.4, 986,000. The railways carried in 1903 about
15,000,000 people and 3,000,000 tons of goods, as against
2.800.000 people and 1,200,000 tons of goods in 1883,
and in that period of 20 years the receipts rose from
,200,000 to Ê. 2, 260,000. The receipts from tele-
graphs amounted to Ê. 76,000, and the expenditure was
Ê.57,000; 1,618,000 messages were despatched. The sum
of £E. 3, 439, 864 was paid for the Aswan Dam and the
—
Asyut Barrage. Some 1 70,000 acres of basin land were converted

into perennial irrigation at a cost of Ê. 1 90,000 ;
^ q ^ as a result, the annual rental of these acres
has been increased by Ê. 5 10,000, and the present sale
value- by Ê.5,100,000. In corvee work 11,244 men were
called out in 1903. The imports were Ê. 16, 146,000 and
the exports Ê. 19, 118,500. About 96,500,000 eggs were
exported. Of the imports 42 ‘5 per cent, were from Great
Britain and her possessions, and of the exports 52*8 went
to Great Britain. The tobacco imported amounted to
6,517,000 kilos., and the tambak to 379,000 kilos.; the
average consumption per head was 1 lb. 7 ozs., or 1 oz.
more than in 1902. About 74,400 passengers landed at
Port Sa‘id and Alexandria. The average daily circulation
of currency notes was Ê. 218,000, and the value of the
notes in circulation was Ê.382,000. About 57,000 tons
of salt were sold, and the gross revenue was 189,000.
The profit the Post Office was Ê. 46, 000.
of It was
decided executions were to be conducted within the
that
prison walls in the presence of certain authorized officials,
and that representatives of the Press were to be admitted.
About 2,121 persons were convicted of crimes, and the
number has been on the increase since 1896, when it was
1,866. About 176,474 certificates of Moslem marriages were
issued, and there were 52,992 cases of divorce. It is said
that in a great many cases the husband takes his wife back
again after divorcing her, and the Inspectors believe that if
account could be taken of these reunions, the number of
divorces would be reduced to about 18,000. The Cairo tram-
ways were used by 18,957,000 people. The following are the
sums which, up to 1903, were spent on education, beginning
with the year 1887, when the expenditure on this department
of the Government had sunk to its lowest figure :
£&. Ê.
1887 ... 63,000 1896 ... 151,000
1888 ... 70,000 1897 ... 158,000
1889 91,000 1898 ... 160,000
1890 104,000 1899 ... 154,000
1891 119,000 1900 156,000
1892 ... 125,000 1901 173,000
1893 138,000 1902 ... 185,000
1894 142,000 1903 197,000
1895 ... 139,000 |
—
The expenditure of the Department of Public Instruction is de-
A D 119 °o 3 fra m
y ed fr° three sources :
—
(1) The Government
Q ran ^ which has risen from Ê.63,000 in 1887
«
to Ê. 121,000 in 1904; (2) School fees, which in 1904

amounted to Ê. 90, 000; (3) Revenue from endowments, &c.,
which itwas estimated would produce Ê. 2 3,000 in 1904.
Writing early in 1904, Lord Cromer concludes his Report
(Egypt, No. 1, 1904) with the following noteworthy sentences :
“ As regards moral progress, all that can be said is that it must

necessarily be slower than advance in a material direction. I
hope and believe, however, that some progress is being made.
In any case, the machinery which will admit of progress has been
created. The schoolmaster is abroad. A reign of law has taken
the place of arbitrary personal power. Institutions, as liberal as
possible under the circumstances, have been established.
In fact, every possible facility is given and every encourage-
ment afforded for the Egyptians to advance along the path of
moral improvement. More than this no Government can do.
It remains for the Egyptians themselves to take advantage
of the opportunities of moral progress which are offered to
them.”
On April 8th the Anglo-French Agreement was signed, wherein
it was declared “ His Britannic Majesty's Govern-
AD o
1904.
1
:
ment (j ec are that they have no intention

}
of altering the political status of Europe, and the Government

of the French Republic, for their part, declare that they will
not obstruct the action of Great Britain in that country by
asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation,
or in any other manner.” Thus England was freed from an
irregular position, into which, through no fault of her own,
she was forced by circumstances, and the material interests
of France at stake in Egypt were secured by specific engage-
ments, and for any apparent loss of political influence in
Egypt she received ample compensation elsewhere. By the sign-
ing of the Agreement, forty-six Khedivial Decrees relating to
the Caisse de la Dette have been wholly repealed, and six
partially so. A new Decree on the subject was promulgated
on November 28th, 1904, and it came into operation on
January 1, 1905. The revenue for 1904 was ^£E. 13,906, 152,
and the Ê. 1 2,700,332, and the surplus
expenditure
being Ê. 2,406,000 in excess of the estimates.
Ê. 1,205, 820,
Fund was on December 31st, 1904, Ê. 3, 185,094. The value
of the sums invested on behalf of the Conversion Economies

a rv
A.D. 1904.
Fund was B E. 6,031,345, as against
^
E s ,507,000 in 1903. Debt to the value of
^91 1,580 was paid off during 1904, and on December 31st the
outstanding capital of the Debt amounted to ^*102,186,920,
about ^92,358,060 being in the hands of the public. The
Army of Occupation cost Egypt Ê.97,500. Some 2,958
acres were sold by the Domains Administration, and the
price realized was ;£ 191,903, or ^64 ijs. per acre. The
value of the currency rates in circulation in 1904 was
VJ'E. 454, 000. Exclusive of tobacco, the value of the imports
was Ê. 19,889,000, or Ê. 3,742,000 more than in 1903 ;
and the exports ^*E. 20, 316, 000, or £E. 1,200,000 more than
in 1903. The Customs revenue was Ê. 3, 2 16,000. Tobacco
produced 1,420,000, and tambak £E. 5 7,000. About
620,500 kilos, of cigarettes were exported. Salt produced
Ê. 182,000, and Railways Ê. 1,244,000. The conversion
of the Port Sa‘id tramway into a railway cost fÊ. 240,000.
Telegraphs produced Ê.84,000, profit Ê.26,000: tele-
phones Ê.3,423; Post Office Ê.190,000, profit
Ê.62,000. A plague of locusts attacked Cairo in April, 1904,
and 241,528 men were called upon to destroy the creatures;
the labour was “forced,” but no complaints were made.
21,369 kilos, of hashish or Indian hemp, were confiscated.
,
,
In 1904 there were 4,015 drinking shops in all Egypt.

Systematic slave trade no longer exists in Egypt. The prisons
contained 12,491 prisoners on December 31st, 1904. The
number of persons admitted into the Government hospitals was
27,921, Education cost £E. 203,500, and there were 140,000
boys under the management of die Department. In 1904,
about 1,346,708 acres were planted with cotton, and the yield
was rather less than 6,000,000 kantars. The loss caused by
the cotton worm was between one and two millions sterling.
Nearly £E. 600, 000 were spent between 1894 and 1904
on Archaeology, Museums, and the preservation of Arab
monuments. In the middle of August Sir William Garstin’s
Report upon the Basin of the Upper Nile (Cd. 2165,“ Egypt,”
No. 2, 1904) appeared. He suggested the expenditure of
Ê. 2 1,000,000, of which Ê. 1 3, 000,000 would be in the
Sudan, and ffE. 8, 000,000 in Egypt. The proposed expen-
diture in the Sudan will not benefit only that country. The
main item of Ê.5,500,000 is for works in the Bahr al-
Gebel, and this expenditure would be almost entirely on
— ;
GREAT IRRIGATION PROJECTS. 27 I
Egypt’s account. Broadly speaking, the whole plan is based

.
n on the principle of utilizing the waters of the
1904.
yyîte Nile for the benefit of Egypt, and those
of the Blue Nile for the benefit of the Sudan. It was proposed
to spend on :
£E.
Middle Egypt canals 1,000,000
Railways 3,000,000
Raising the Aswan Dam 500,000
Remodelling Rosetta and Damietta branches 900,000
Works on the Bahr aUGebel 5,500,000
Making a new channel between Bohr and
the Sawbat River 3,400,000
Regulation of the lakes 2,000,000
Barrages between Asyut and Kena ... 2,000,000
Conversion of the Upper Egypt basins... 5,000,000
Reservoir at Rosaires 2,000,000
Barrage on the Blue Nile 1,000,000
Gezirah Canal system 2,000,000
Sir William Garstin estimates that when the whole of his
Egyptian project is carried out, 750,000 acres of land will
be converted from basin into perennial irrigation; 100,000
acres will be made capable of being irrigated by pumps
800,000 additional acres will be brought under cultivation ;
and that, at very moderate rates, the increased revenue to
be derived from taxation will be Ê. 1,205,000 a year. The
Sawakin-Berber Railway was to cost Ê. 1,750,000, and to
be finished in the spring of 1906. Its actual cost was
Ê. 1,375,000, i.e., about Ê.4,150 per mile. This line is
now known as the “ Nile-Red Sea Railway/’ or the “ Atbara-
Port Sudan Railway.” An expenditure of Ê. 500, 000 will
carry out the Kash scheme of irrigation in the Sudan, and
bring under cultivation 100,000 acres; assessing the land tax
at 50 piastres an acre, the increased revenue would amount to
Ê. 50,000. The whole or at least the greater part of
this money would, of course, be utilized to diminish the
contribution now paid annually by Egypt to the Sudan
Government. In fact, the only hope of rendering the Sudan
ultimately self-supporting lies in the judicious expenditure of
capital on railways and irrigation. An attempt will certainly
be made inthe near future to carry out an Egyptian railway
and irrigationprogramme, involving a capital expenditure
of 5,400,000, and it will involve raising the Aswan Dam
and remodelling of the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the
Nile. On August 17th the Greek Orthodox Convent of
Old Cairo was destroyed by fire. The convent was a very old
-
foundation, and had been standing for centuries. It was one

of the oldest monuments of the Eastern Church in Egypt,
and was associated with many important historical events.
As the result of the abolition of the Bridge Tolls in 1900,
35,732 boats passed through the lock of the Delta Barrage in
*903, and 41,740 in 1904.
The revenue in 1905 was Ê. 14,813,000, and the ex=
.
n penditure Ê. 12, 125,000 surplus
; about
1905.
^£ 2,689,000. After deducting Ê. 3, 050, 000,
which was paid to the Caisse de la Dette early in the year,
the amount standing Reserve Fund on
to the credit of the
January 1st, 1905, was 10,038,055, and on January 1st,
1906, was Ê. 1 2,088,000. The total capital of the Debt
was on December 31st, 1905, Ê.96,484,000.
The interest charge has been reduced from ^4,268,000 to
^*3,704,000, a decrease of ^564,000. The Imports in 1905
were worth Ê. 2 1,564,000, and the Exports £E. 20,360,000.
The specie imported amounted to Ê.4,782,000, and that
exported to Ê.3,870,000. Some 702,800 kilos, of cigarettes
were exported. Customs revenue amounted to Ê. 3, 3 2 2, 148.
The Currency Notes in circulation were worth Ê.9 13,000.
On December 31st, 1905, the P.O. Savings Banks Deposits
amounted to Ê. 236, 420; the Children’s Savings Banks had
2,645 depositors. The share capital and reserves of the
purely Egyptian deposit banks rose from ^2,939,000 in 1901
to ^6,300,000 in 1905; and their assets during the same
period from ^10,585,000 to ^26,424,000. The share
capital and reserves of the mortgage banks rose from
^7,263,000 in 1901 to ^29,749,000 in 1905, and their
total during the same period from ^7,744,000 to
assets
^'32,655,000. The Domains Administration sold 2,979
acres for ^120,765, i.e., at the rate of ^40 10s. per acre.
The Daira Debt has now been entirely liquidated. In 1905
a penny postal rate between Egypt and Great Britain was
established. The increase in the number of letters and
articles passing through the Egyptian Post Office is illustrated
by the following figures: —
No. of Letters. No. of Letters.
1885 12,500,000 1906 65,000,000
1890 16,300,000
22,400,000
1907 69,500,000
•895
1900 31,900,000 1908 69,530,000
1905 50,700,000 1909 72,310,000
—
Land Tax produced in 1905 Ê. 4, 902, 608, Land Sales

Registration Ê.943,000, and the Date Tax
A
^ D 1905*
1 • •
1 22,000. The net earnings of the railways

were Ê. 1,327,000, and the capital expenditure Ê.647,000.
The following figures illustrate the growth of passenger traffic :
Passengers carried. Receipts.

1903 t4 95 2 00 °
) j
£&. 99 6 000 >
1904 ... ... 17,725,000 Ê. 1, 188,000

I9°5 20,014,000 Ê.1,313,000
Passengers between Egypt and Europe: in 1902, 60,000;
in 1903, 74,000; in 1904, 90,400; in 1905, 99,922. The
revenue from the telegraphs was £E. 101,000 (profit,
^'E.26,500); about 667,000 European and 1,248,000 Arabic
telegrams passed over the wires. The Alexandria Telephone
produced Ê.3,728. The cost of the Prisons Department
was Ê. 107,080. Education cost Ê. 235,000. Manu-
mission papers were granted in 1905 to 63 male and 90 female
slaves in Cairo, and everyone must rejoice that a systematic
trade in slaves is dead in Egypt. Would that the British
authorities in Cairo had rule in other parts of Africa !* On
April 1st, at 3.50 p.m., one of the Pyramids at Gizah was struck
by lightning, just below the apex, and several of the stones fell
to the ground with a crash. Rain fell in torrents, and the
low-lying parts of Cairo were flooded.
On February 20th H.H. the Khedive visited the Oasis of
AD * 9°(
•
Siwah, with a suite consisting of Dr. Butler,
•
jy[ r
jr a S)
£) r> Kautsky, an Egyptian Secretary,
]
and an engineer. In the same month a steamer service

was inaugurated on Lake Manzalah, and the journey from
Karputy (Port Sa‘id) to Matariyah occupies about four hours.
The steamers are of the stern-wheel type and have double
promenade decks. Tug-boats and cargo barges have also
been constructed. On January 12th the Sultan complained to
the British Ambassador in Constantinople and to the Khedive of
Egypt that Bramley Bey, an Egyptian officer, had pitched his
camp on the Gaza Road near ‘Akabah, and had declared his
intention of erecting a guard house there in Turkish territory.
The Egyptian Government denied that there had been any in-
*
According to Bishop Tucker, who writes from Uganda (Times,
April 12th, 1906), “Slavery under the British flag may be found in
a pure, unadulterated and unquestioned form in British East Africa. In
Mombasa, Lamu, Malindi, and all the territory within the ten-mile limit,
slavery is still a legalized institution.”
S
274 PROGRESS IN EGYPT,
vasion of Turkish territory, and proposed that a Commissioner
A D i 9 06 This ^
s ^ ou appointed to delimit the frontier.
.
the Sultan refused to agree to, and claimed
that the district of ‘Akabah was in Turkish territory. Subse-
quently the matter reached an acute stage, and Turkish troops
occupied Tabah. The Egyptian Government resisted the
Sultan’s claims, and at length -His Majesty agreed to the
appointment of a Frontier Commission.
In April, Maryam, an Abyssinian outlaw at Noggara, raided
several villages near Kadaref, killed ioi villagers, and carried
off 41 men and 133 women, and numbers of cattle. In May,
the natives who lived in the Nuba Mountains in the Southern
Sudan, incited by the Arab slave-raiders, attacked the
Government Fort at Talodi and killed a number of soldiers.
The Sudan Government despatched Major O’Connell with
a force to punish the rebels, and this officer, in spite of the
rains and flooded state of the country, reached Talodi quickly,
and, in the fight which followed, killed 300 of the natives,
whose wish was to re-open the slave trade. The little garrison
had held out bravely, but were in sore straits when relief
arrived. Order was soon restored, and the natives in the
neighbourhood of Gebel Kadir, where the Mahdi first preached
his Mission, supported Major O’Connell. In June, five officers
of Mounted Infantry went to shoot pigeons at Denshawai, near
Tanta, but were surrounded by natives, and so evilly treated
that Major Pine Coffin was knocked down, and Captain Bull
died of the injuries he received. The attack was premeditated,
and was due to the fanatical feeling which exists in that part of
the Delta. A large number of arrests were made, and the
leaders of the attack were tried by a special court ;
four were
hanged, others were whipped, and others were sentenced to
terms of imprisonment.
The total value of merchandize exported and imported was
Ê.48,388,000 ; the imports were valued at Ê.24, 01 1,000.
The deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank amounted to
;£E. 325, 000. The revenue was 15, 337, 000, and the ex-
penditure Ê.13, 162,000. The Reserve Fund had a credit
of Ê.i 1,055,000. The outstanding capital of the Debt was
Ê.96, 18 1,000. The revenue from the Post Office was
Ê.237,000; from railways (passengers 22,550,000, goods
6,712,019 tons) ;£E. 1, 475, 000 ; and from telegraphs
1 04,00c (telegrams 2,300,000). Education cost
Ê.374,000. Thirty-two Higher Primary Schools had
7,584 pupils, and 4,432 Native Schools (Kuttabs) had

156,542 pupils (145,838 boys and 10,704 girls). The cotton
crop realized ^27,000,000.
In April Lord Cromer resigned his position of Agent and Con-
sul-General, and was succeeded by Sir Eldon
A. 1907.
.
Q orst This year a financial crisis took place
which checked the financial and commercial expansion of the
last few years. Several banks refused to grant further advances,
large loans were called in, and the prices of local securities
declined steadily until the month of June ;
there was a general
feeling of alarm and mistrust throughout the country. Import
trade was shaken, stocks accumulated in bonded warehouses,
and several business houses suspended payment. The quantity of
cotton exported in 1888 was 3,075,000 kantars, and in 1906-7
6,778,000 kantars, and the price per kantar rose from Ê.2'95
in 1888 to Ê.374 in 1906-7. The exports rose from
Ê. 13,507,000 in 1888 to Ê. 30, 920, 000 in 1906-7 the ;
imports from Ê. 7, 613, 000 to Ê.25,066,000 in the same

years. The Government revenue rose from Ê. 9, 87 2,000 in
1888 to ^"E. 15,700,000 in 1906-7. The actual revenue in
1
907 wasÊ.i6,368,ooo,and the expenditure Ê. 14,280,000.
The total amount of the Debt in the hands of the public
was Ê.87,448,000. The total value of merchandize
exported and imported was £E. 54, 134,000 (increase of
Ê. 5, 246,000). The value of the imports was Ê. 26, 121,00c
and of the exports Ê. 28,013,000. Customs brought in
Ê. 3, 79 r, 42 5. The profit from the Post Office was
Ê.62,000 (number of letters 65,600,000). The cotton crop
produced between 6,500,000 and 7,000,000 kantars. Some
12,152 men were employed in guarding the Nile banks for a
period under 100 days. It was decided to raise the Aswan
Dam five metres at a cost of Ê. 1,500,000. When the work
is done it will be possible to irrigate 1,000,000 acres of waste
land in the north of the Delta. The irrigation works proposed

this year were estimated to cost ^20,000,000. In December
the British and Egyptian Governments decided to liberate the
Denshawai prisoners, and they were pardoned and set free by
H.H. the Khedive, on his birthday, January 8th, 1908 The
imports from Great Britain and British Possessions amounted
toÊ. 9, 792,735. Education cost Ê.374,000.
In February Mustafa Kamil Pasha, the leader of the Nationalist
A n l ^° ^ Party and proprietor of the newspaper Al-Lewa ,
i.e ., The Flag died aged 34 years.

,
Sir William
s 2
Garstin, the eminent irrigation expert, resigned the Directorship

Works, and was appointed one of the
AD 1 9 § •
British Directorson the Board of the Suez
Canal Company. He was succeeded by Mr. A. L. Webb.
Early in May Mr. Scott-Moncrieff, a Deputy-Inspector of
the Blue Nile Province, was murdered at Tugr, a village
between Mesallamiyah and Kamlin, by ‘Abd al-Kader
Muhammad Imam Wad Habuba, leader of a rebellion
against the Government. On May 8th the accused was tried
at Kamlin in the Mudir’s Court, and was sentenced to death
and to the forfeiture of his property, His execution was carried
out on May 17th at Hillat Mustafa, the market village of his
tribe, the Halawin. The revenue was ;£E. 15,522,000 and the
expenditure ^£E. 14,408,000 surplus Ê.1,1 14,000. The
;
total amountof Debt in the handsof thepublicwas^89, 41 5,000.

Customs brought in Ê. 3, 669,988. The Post Office brought
in 296, 636 (decrease Ê. 9, 320, profit Ê.30,418) the ;
number of letters was 69,500,000, and of parcels 869,930.

Savings Bank, number of depositors 86,728, money deposited
Ê.40 1,933. The gross receipts on the railways amounted
to Ê. 3, 464, 000 number of passengers 25,841,778, tons of
;
goods carried 5,775,198. The value of the State Railways is

.-££.25,078, 500, and the return on the capital is 5*4 per cent.
The cotton crop produced 6,250,000 kantars, valued at
^ E. 7,091,603 ; area under cultivation
1 1,640,415 acres.
27,000 men were called upon to gu^rd the Nile banks for 100
days. The work of raising the Aswan Dam was carried on and
cost Ê. 369, 000; when it is completed the reservoir will
extend to a point about 20 miles north of Wadi Halfah. In
the Hospitals 33,241 in-patients were treated, and there were
181,580 out-patients. Education cost Ê.440, 000. Imports
were valued at 2 5, 100,397, the proportion supplied by
Great Britain being 38 per cent. Exports were valued at
Ê. 2 1,315,673, of which Great Britain took 53 per cent.,
valued at /~E. 1 5,359,586. The value of the eggs exported
was Ê.75,589.
The Press Law was enforced with moderation one paper was ;
suppressed, and the editor of another, the Lewa

AD 10
1909. or Flag, was sentenced to three months’ imprison-
,
ment. The cotton crop was considerably below the average

of recent years, and there was a falling off in the revenues from
the ports and railways. In April, petroleum was discovered
at B,as Gemsah, a place on the Red Sea, 160 miles south of
Suez. The made by the Suez Canal Company to the

proposal
Egyptian Government for an extension of its
A.D. 1909.
concess j on for 40 years after 1968, during which
period the profits of the undertaking were to be equally
divided between the Government and the Company, was
rejected by the General Assembly. The revenue in 1909
was Ê. 15,402,000, and the expenditure ;£E. 14,241,000,
leaving a surplus of Ê.i, 161,000.
In December, 1909, the total capital of the Debt was
^95,241,000. The Customs receipts were Ê. 3, 455,000, of
which tobacco brought in Ê. 1,656,000. The imports were
valued at Ê. 22,230,500, and the exports at Ê. 26,076,000,
specie in each case being excluded. The cotton exported was
6.952.000 kantars, value Ê. 2 1,478,000 ; cotton seed,
3.308.000 ardebs, value ;£E. 2,43 3,000. The Post Office
brought in Ê.313,000; the amount of money forwarded
through it was 20, 863,000 ; and the number of depositors
in the P.O. Savings Bank were 93,000, some 70,000 being
Egyptians, and the rest Europeans. Telegraphs brought in
^CE. 108,000 (profit, Ê.4,000), and railways Ê. 3, 258,000,
the net earnings being ;£E. 1,283,000 ; number of passengers,
25,306,000. The capital value of the railways was
Ê.25, 293,000.
The Khargah Oasis Railway was purchased by the Govern-
ment for 125,000, i.e., one-half its cost. About Ê.999, 000
was spent in Public Building, and in this surh is included
Ê.80,000 for re-roofing the Egyptian Museum. Good
progress was made in building the new Biilak and Gazirah
Bridges. M. Legrain finished the re-erection of the columns
of the temple of Karnak which fell down in 1899, a portion
of the temple of Esna was cleared, the restoration of Der
al-Madinah was begun, and many of the temples in Nubia
were repaired. ^"E. 16,000 was spent in restoring Arab
monuments. H.H. the Khedive and H.H. the Vice-Reine
Mere performed the pilgrimage to Mecca; 10,000 Egyptians,
and 15,000 foreign pilgrims passing through Egypt, also visited
Mecca. Education cost ;£E. 505, 000.
The revenue was ;£E. 15,965,000, and the total expendi-
AD 1010
ture was ^^• I T 4 I 4 >°°°
the surplus was
i
9 •
Ê.^ggjôoo. For the first time since the
financial crisis of 1907, the revenue is once again showing
expansion. The total amount of the Debt in the hands
of the public was, at the end of 1909, ^£89,151,060.
The Customs receipts were: — Imports, Ê. 1,598, 494 ;

ex-
A D
1 ' 1010
y
P ° rtS ’ Ê ' 2 79 . 5 8r ;
other receipts, Ê.32,719;
tobacco, p£E. 1,591, 347 ; in all, Ê.3,502, 141.
•
The value of the merchandize exported and imported

total
was pÊ.52,497,000, against Ê.48, 307,000 in 1909, an
increase of 87 per cent. Specie imported = ;£E. 12,964,000 ;
exported == Ê. 7, 046, 000. The value of the imports was
Ê.23,553,000, an increase of 6 per cent, on those of 1909.
The value of the exports was £E. 28, 944,000, an increase
of 1 1 per cent. Cotton was exported to the amount of
6,009,400 kantars, valued at £E. 24, 242, 000, compared
with 6,952,500 kantars in 1909, valued at Ê.21,478,000,
or 14 per cent, less in quantity and 13 per cent, more in
value. Cotton seed shows a decrease of 19 per cent, in
quantity and 11 per cent, in value; in 1909 about 3,308,000
ardebs, value ^£.2,433,000, were exported, and in 1910
about 2,673,000 ardebs, value Ê, 2, 160,000. The onion
crop brought in Ê. 264,000. The import of leaf tobacco
has decreased from 7,873,000 kilogs. in 1909, to 7,552,000
kilogs. in 1910. In the Post Office 75,000,000 letters and
1,000,000 parcels were dealt with. Railways produced
^£.3,401,000 (net earnings ;£E. 1,446,00c) ; number of
passengers 25,711,00c. Telegraphs produced ^,E. 115,000
(net profit Ê. 12,000). The area under cotton cultivation
is 1,603,266 feddans, as against 1,465,187 feddans in 1909.
About 17,500 Egyptian pilgrims went to Mecca, and 16,000
foreign pilgrims passed through Egypt. The number of pupils
in the schools was 202,095 of these 17,609 were girls.
;
;
279
CHAPTER XVI.
The Modern Egyptians.
The census of 1907 showed that the population of Egypt was
11,287,359 souls. The population of Egypt to-day comprises
the Fellahin, Copts, Bedawin, Jews, Turks, Negroes, Nubians,
Abyssinians, Armenians, and Europeans.
The Fellahin, or what maybe termed the Arab=Egyptians,
form the bulk of the population of Egypt, and it has been
asserted that 92*2 per cent, of the population of Egypt belong
to this class. They are descended from the Arab tribes which
settled in Egypt soon after the conquest of the country by
‘Amr, the commander-in-chief of ‘Omar, the Khalifah. When
these tribes left the desert and began to live a non-nomad life,
they married among the indigenous people, and their offspring,
most of whom embraced Islam, resembled in many particulars
the ancient Egyptians. Arab-Egyptians are usually about
5 feet 8 inches or 5 feet 9 inches in height, and in mature age
most of them are remarkably well proportioned ; the men are
muscular and robust, and the women are beautifully formed,
and neither sex is too fat. In Cairo and the northern pro-
vinces they have a yellowish but clear complexion, but further
south it is darker and coarser. In the extreme south the
people have a brown complexion, which becomes darker as we
approach Nubia.
The countenance of the men is of an oval form, the fore-
head is of moderate size, seldom high, but generally prominent.
The eyes are often deep-sunk, and are black and brilliant
the nose is straight, but rather thick ; the mouth is well
formed, the lips are rather full, the teeth are particularly good
and white, and the scanty beard is black and curly. The
Fellahin, from constant exposure to the sun, have a habit
of half-shutting their eyes, which often causes them to appear
more deep-sunk than they are. Formerly a great number
of the Egyptians were blind in one or both eyes, which was
due partly to dirt and disease (ophthalmia), and partly to
their own act, for many men, it is said, used to make one eye
blind by squeezing into it the juice of a plant, in order to
avoid military service. It is said that one of the autocratic
rulers of the land, who refused to be defeated by such an
artifice, raised a battalion of men who were blind in one eye ;
280 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.
and when the people began cutting off a finger from the right
hand in order to disqualify them for military service, the same
Pasha raised another battalion, each member of which lacked a
finger of the right hand. In 1902 Sir Ernest Cassel constituted
a Trust with a capital of ^40,000, the interest of which was to
be devoted to the treatment of those suffering from diseases of
the eye. In July, 1903, Dr. MacCallan, an English ophthalmic
surgeon, was appointed to be in charge of the work connected
with this Fund. Tents, equipment, and instruments were
purchased, and a native medical attendant, together with the
necessary staff, was engaged, and a travelling hospital was
erected at Menuf. The Egyptians generally shave portions of
the beard above and below the lower jaw, and likewise a small
portion under the lower lip, leaving, however, after the example
of the Prophet, the hairs that grow in the middle under the
mouth; sometimes they pluck out these hairs. None shave
the moustache the grey beard is much respected, and only
;
those of Persian origin colour it by treatment with lime.

Usually the Egyptians shave all the hair, or leave only a small
tuft, which is called shusha ,
upon the crown of the head.
Hair which is cut off the human head is usually buried. The
tuft of hair is left so that, should the head ever be cut off
by an infidel, he may have something to hold it by, and so be
prevented from putting his fingers into the mouth to carry it.
The women are characterized by a broad, oval countenance,
and their eyes are black, large, and of a long almond shape,
with long and beautiful lashes. The eyes are beautified by
blackening the edges of the eyelids, both above and below the
eye, with a black powder called “ kohl,” which is made from
the smoke-black of a kind of aromatic resin, and also from the
smoke-black of almond shells. These kinds of “ kohl ” are
used merely for ornament, but several mineral preparations are
known, and these are believed to possess healing properties.
Kohl is applied to the eyelids with a smali instrument made of
wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but blunt ;
this is moistened, and, having been dipped in the powder, is

drawn along the edges of the eyelids. The ancient Egyptians
and the Hebrews also used kohl for the eyes, and there is
little doubt that in the earliest times the object of its use was
medicinal rather than ornamental. The nose is straight, the

lips are usually fuller than those of men, and the hair is black
and glossy, sometimes coarse and crisp, but never woolly.
Eellahin women, as well as those of the upper classes, stain
THE FELLAH IN. 281
and toes with “henna,” which gives

the nails of the fingers
them a deep orange colour. Some dye the tips of the fingers
and toes as high as the first joint, and the whole of the inside
of the hand and the sole of the foot. Many women tattoo
blue marks upon the face, hands, arms, feet, and the middle of
the breast ; the punctures are made with a bundle of seven
needles, and the colouring substance which is rubbed in is
usually indigo.
The dress of the fellah consists of a pair of drawers, a
long blue gown of linen or cotton, and a white or red girdle
or a belt. The turban is wound round the tarbush when ,
the fellah has money enough to buy one, and in cold weather
a skull-cap and cloak are worn. The dress of both men
and women in Egypt, as elsewhere, varies according to their
means and individual fancies. Most of the women of the
lower classes wear a number of cheap ornaments, such as
nose-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. The nose-ring
is usually made of brass, and has a few beads of coloured glass
attached to it. The Fellahin usually lead hard lives, and their
earnings are small. Their food consists of maize or millet,
bread, milk, new cheese, eggs, salted fish, cucumbers, melons,
gourds, and onions and other vegetables, which they eat raw.
The ears of maize are often roasted and eaten ; among the
poorest people of all rice is rarely seen, and meat never.
Nearly every man smokes, and formerly he had nothing but
native tobacco, which was very cheap ; the leaves of the plant
were merely dried and broken up. The women work harder
than the men, for they have to prepare and cook the food,
bring the water from the river, and make the fuel, which is
composed of cattle dung and chopped straw formerly they
;
had to make the linen or cotton cloth required by the family,

but much of this is now purchased in the bazaars. In many
districts the wife is still practically a maid-of-all-work and the
bearer of all burdens, and the husband perpetuates, in respect
of her, many of the customs which have come down to him
from his ancestors, the wild, marauding tribes of the desert.
The Copts are the direct descendants of the ancient
Egyptians, and inhabit chiefly the cities of Upper Egypt.
They number about 706,322, or 6*31 per cent, of the
population, and most of them are engaged in the trades
of goldsmiths, cloth-workers, etc., and a large number of
the clerks in the postal, telegraph, and other Government
offices in Egypt are drawn from their community. The
2§2 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.
name “Copt” (Kubt or Kibt) is the Arabic form of the

Coptic form of the Greek name for “ Egyptian,” Ai^v 7nio<?,
though some would derive it from “ Kubt,” the name of the
city of Coptos, to which large numbers of the Egyptian
Christians retired during the fierce persecutions which broke
out against the Christians in Roman times. Though there
are some striking points of resemblance between the Copts
and the ancient Egyptians, there is a considerable difference
between them ; this difference is, however, easily accounted
for by the intermarriage of the ancestors of the modem Copts
with foreigners. The complexion of the Copts varies from a
pale yellow to a deep brown, according to the part of the
country in which they live. The eyes are large, elongated,
and black, and they incline from the nose upwards ; the nose
is straight, but is wide and rounded at the end; the lips are
rather thick, and the hair is black and curly. In stature the
Copts are slightly under middle size. The women paint their
eyes with kohl, and many of them tattoo the cross on their
faces and hands. Their male children are circumcised. The
Copts wear garments of a subdued colour, and can frequently
be distinguished from the Muhammadans by their dress. The
women veil their faces, both in public and private, and a
generation or so ago the unmarried women wore white veils.
The Copts are Christians, and belong to the sect of the
Eutychians, or followers of Eutyches, whose confession of
faith was as follows:
“ I worship the Father with the Son, and
the Son with the Father, and the Holy Ghost with the Father
and the Son. I acknowledge that the bodily presence of the
Son arose from the body of the Holy Virgin, and that He
became perfect man for the sake of our salvation. I acknow-
ledge that our Lord, before the union (of the Godhead and
manhood), had two natures; but, after the union, I confess but
one.” In other words, he abandoned “ the distinction of the two
natures in Christ to the unity of the person to such an extent
as to make the incarnation an absorption of the human nature
by the divine, or a deification of human nature, even of the
body.” He believed that Christ had but one composite nature,
and his followers in their liturgies declared that God had
been crucified. The doctrines which Eutyches rejected were
embodied in the “ Definition of Faith,” which was promulgated
by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, thus “We then,
:
following the holy Fathers, all with one consent teach men to
confess one and the same Son. One Lord Jesus Christ; the
THE COPTS. 2§3
same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood ;

truly
God and man, of a reasonable soul and body ; con-
truly
substantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and
consubstantial with us according to the manhood ; in all
things like unto us without sin ; begotten before all ages of the
Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for
us and for our salvation, born of Mary, the Virgin Mother of
God, according to the manhood; one and the same Christ,
Son, Lord, Only Begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures,
inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, the dis-
tinction of natures being by no means taken away by the
union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved,
and concurring in one person and one hypostasis, not parted
or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and
Only Begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the
prophets from the beginning have declared concerning Him,
and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the
creed of the holy Fathers has delivered to us.”
Because the Copts hold the belief in Christ possessing one
nature only they are called Monophysites, and they are also
known as Jacobites because they follow views of Jacob
Baradaeus, a Syrian, who was an active propagator of the doctrine
of Eutyches. The Copts who adhered to the Greek faith were
called Melkites, or Melchites, i.e., Royalists, because
they agreed in faith with the Emperor of Constantinople. The
dissensions between the Melchites and the Jacobites were of a
very serious character, and they were carried on with great
bitterness on each side until the Arabs invaded Egypt ; the
Jacobites then threw in their lot with the Arabs, and rejoiced
to lend them their help in expelling the Greeks. As soon as
‘Amr became master of Egypt he appointed a number of Copts
to positions of dignity and importance and wealth, but finding
them to be unworthy of his confidence, he degraded them,
and very soon afterwards they were persecuted with terrible
rigour.
The Copts declare that St. Mark, who is said to have been
the first preach the Gospel in Alexandria, was their first
to
Patriarch, and their list of the Patriarchs of Alexandria begins
with his name. The Coptic Patriarch is also the head of the
Abyssinian Church, for the dwellers in Ethiopia profess the
Monophysite doctrine. The Patriarch governs the Coptic
Church by means of a Metropolitan of Ethiopia, 12 bishops,
two kinds of priests, and deacons. He lives in Cairo, and is
chosen from among the order of monks of the Convent of

St. Anthony, who have always been very numerous among the
Copts. The Coptic community is a very wealthy one, and the
property, of which the Patriarch has almost unlimited control,
is enormous ; it is asserted on good authority that a great deal
of peculation goes on among those who assist the Patriarch to

administer ecclesiastical property, and it is to be hoped that
the Reform Party in the Coptic Church will succeed in forcing
them to render accounts of the moneys which come into their
hands, and to submit to some kind of audit. Until com-
paratively recently the Coptic Patriarch had the power to
excuse Copts from military service on the payment of certain
fees to him, and it was only renounced under considerable
pressure. Coptic monks and nuns form a very numerous
body, and there is no doubt that the best of them lead lives
of great austerity. They emulate the lives of St. Anthony and
his immediate followers, and fast and pray with extraordinary
zeal and persistence ; they wear woollen shirts, and live chiefly
upon vegetable food. They do not cultivate their minds or
advance learning, and but few of them can read Coptic, their
ancient language ; speaking generally, they know nothing of
their own history and literature, and their ignorance, super-
stition, and narrow-mindedness are almost incredible. In
certain villages in Upper Egypt where Coptic monasteries
exist the monks do not enjoy a reputation for sanctity.
The Copts baptize their sons when 40, and their daughters
when 80 days old the Holy Spirit is believed to descend upon
;
the child in baptism, and it is thought that an unbaptized child

will be blind in the next life. Like the ancient Egyptians they
practise circumcision, and the custom is probably to be re-
garded more in the light of a survival of a wide-spread habit of the
ancient indigenous people of Egypt than a religious rite. Boys
are taught the Psalms in Arabic, and the Gospels and Epistles
both in Arabic and Coptic ; but Coptic does not appear to be
taught grammatically in Coptic schools. Prayers are said and
portions of the Bible are read in Coptic in the churches, but it
is doubtful how much the readers know of the language. In
manuscripts an Arabic version of the Coptic text is usually
written side by side with it, and recourse is always had to this
in cases of difficulty.The Copts who are engaged in commerce
have a lively appreciation of the education in modern subjects
which will fit their sons for business, and it is a remarkable
fact that the percentage of Muhammadan pupils in schools
THE COPTS. 285
and colleges under the Department of Public Instruction is

less than the percentage of Muhammadans in the total popu-
lation, whilst the percentage of Coptic pupils in the same
schools is almost treble the percentage of Copts throughout
Egypt. Thus Muhammadans form 92 per cent, of the total
population, and the number of their children in the schools
forms 78 per cent, of the pupils. The Copts form 6 per cent,
of the total population, but the number of their children in the
schools forms 17 per cent, of the pupils. The Copts owe their
ability to perform the duties of clerks in Government offices
in Egypt entirely to the American missionaries, who have
taught them English, and educated them on modern lines,
and helped them to lead lives based upon a high standard of
public and private morality. The Copts, like the Jews and
Muhammadans, pray several times daily, namely, at daybreak,
at the third, sixth, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth hours, and at
midnight. The strictest of them recite in Arabic the seventh
part of the Psalter, and a chapter of one of the four Gospels
each time they pray, and then either with or without the help
of a rosary, they say: “O my Lord, have mercy! 41 times.
5
-
They then say a short prayer in Coptic. The poor and the
illiterate say the Lord’s Prayer seven times at each season of
prayer, and, “O my Lord, have mercy !•” 41 times. The Copts
usually wash before praying, and they face the east when
praying.
Coptic churches usually contain four or five divisions.. The
first contains the altar, and is separated from the second by
a screen with a door in the centre which is covered by a curtain
with a cross worked upon it. The second division is devoted
to the priests, choir, ministrants, and the more influential or
important members of the congregation ; it is separated from
the third by a high wooden lattice with three doors in it. The
third, or third and fourth divisions, are set apart for the less
important male members of the congregation, and in the last
division come the women. The walls are ornamented some-
times with pictures of saints, but no images are admitted.
Every member of the congregation removes his shoes on
entering the church, and as the services are. frequently very
long, and he has to stand most of the time, he supports himself
upon a kind of crutch. The service usually begins at daybreak,
and lasts from three to five hours. In spite of the mats which
are laid upon the floors the churches are very cold in winter.
The strict decorum which a European associates with behaviour
;
in church is not carefully observed, and many members of the

congregation may frequently be seen conversing with each
other on business matters, and the long service appears to be
monotonous and uninteresting. At intervals a priest cerises
the congregation, and blesses various members of it. In the
Eucharist only the priests partake of the wine; the sacra =
mental bread is made in the form of small round cakes or buns,
which are stamped with the cross, etc.; after being moistened with
wine they are administered to the congregation. The Copts
make use of confession, which is obligatory before the receiving
of the Eucharist, and they observe the following fasts :
Fast of Nineveh, which is kept one week before Lent, and

—
(i) The
lasts three days and three nights (2) the Great Fast, i.e.,
;
Lent, which originally lasted 40 days, but has now become

extended to 55 (3) the Fast of the Nativity, the period of
;
which is the 28 days immediately preceding Christmas Day ;

(4) the Fast of the Apostles, which is the period between the
Ascension and the fifth day of Epip (5) the Fast of the
;
Virgin, a period of 15 days previous to the Assumption of the

Virgin. The Copts fast every Wednesday and Friday,
except for one period of 50 days. Each fast is followed by a
festival. The Festivals are: —(1) The Festival of the Nativity
(6th or 7th of J anuary) ; (2) the Festival Al-Ghitas (18th or 19th
of January), in commemoration of the baptism of Christ ; (3) the
P'estival of the Annunciation of the Virgin (6th of April)
(4) the Festival of Palm Sunday; (5) the Great Festival of

Easter ; (6) the Festival of the Ascension ; (7) the Festival of
Whit Sunday. Formerly on the Festival Al-Ghitas, whereon
the baptism of Christ was commemorated, men and boys used
to plunge into the water, the one saying to the other “ Plunge,
:
as thy father and grandfather plunged, and remove Al-Islam

from thy heart.” Mr. Lane says “ Some churches have a
:
large tank, which used on this occasion, the water having

is
first been blessed by a priest but it is a more common

;
practice of the Copts to perform this ceremony (which most

of them regard more as an amusement than a religious rite) in
the river, pouring in some holy water from the church before
they plunge. This used to be an occasion of great festivity
among the Copts of the metropolis; the Nile was crowded
with boats. Prayers are performed in the churches on the
eve of this festival a priest blesses the water in the font on
;
the bank, then ties on a napkin as an apron, and wetting the

corner of a handkerchief with the holy water, washes (or rather
COPTIC CUSTOMS. 287
wipes or touches) with it the feet of each member of the

congregation.”
As the Muhammadans declare that every true believer must
visit the grave of the Prophet at Mecca once in his life, so the
Copts hold it obligatory on every one of their community to
visit Jerusalem once in his life. The Copts are forbidden to
marry anyone who is not a member of their community, and
if one does so he is married according to the civil law of the
land, and as his own Church will not recognize the marriage it
may be dissolved at pleasure. To obtain a wife the Copt
follows the same method of procedure as the Muhammadan,
that is to say, some woman of his family looks out for a
suitable partner;
when found, her face is rarely seen by her
future husband. A contract in respect of dowry is drawn up
on strict business principles, a priest usually presiding and
agreeing, or not, to the terms proposed ; when all parties have
agreed to the contract they say the Lord’s Prayer three times.
The Copts usually marry on Saturday nights, and the complete
marriage festival lasts eight days. The festival begins on
Tuesday, when the friends of the pair to be married are
feasted. Mr. Lane describes an interesting custom which is,
observed during the early days of the festival, and says that
the cook makes two hollow balls of sugar, each with a hole at
the bottom. Then taking two live pigeons he attaches little
round bells to their wings, and having whirled the poor birds,
through the air till they are giddy, puts them into the two balls,
before mentioned ; each of these is placed upon a dish, and
they are put before the guests, some of whom, judging when
the birds have recovered from their giddiness, break the balls.
The pigeons generally fly about the room, ringing their little
bells ; if they do not fly immediately, some person usually
makes them rise, as the spectators would draw an evil omen
from their not flying. On Thursday the bride is conducted to
the bath, and on Friday the nails of her hands and feet are
stained with henna. On Saturday two suits of clothing, one
for the bride and one for the bridegroom, are sent from the
bride’s house to that of the bridegroom, and a woman from
her house goes to the bridegroom’s to see that all is prepared,
and the bridegroom is taken to the bath. In the evening the
bride sets out for the bridegroom’s house, being escorted by
her women relations and friends, and as she is about to enter
it, a sheep is killed at the door, and the bride must step over
the blood. A few hours later, after much feasting, the bride,
and bridegroom go separately to church, and the Eucharist is

administered to the couple, and a long service is performed.
The ceremonies and service often last until daybreak, when
the newly-married couple go to the husband’s house. On the
Monday the bride’s father gives a feast in the bridegroom’s
house, and on the Tuesday the bride and bridegroom do the
same, and with this the marriage festival closes. The Copt
can obtain a divorce only on the ground of adultery on the
part of his wife, but a separation can be effected for many
reasons.
The Copts follow the custom of the country in carrying their
dead to the grave, and lamentation goes on in the house of the
deceased for three days ; they visit the tombs thrice a year, and
spend a night there each time. At each visit, those who are in
easy circumstances give a meal to the poor. It is difficult to
find out what the Copts believe about the judgment of souls,
but some of them think that the soul is judged on the day
when it leaves the body, and that it receives its reward of good
or evil before sunrise on the following day. It is interesting in
connection with this opinion to note that a large number of the
ancient Egyptians held a somewhat similar view. They thought
that the souls of all those who died during the day made their
way to the realm of Osiris, which they reached a little before
midnight ; the god then rewarded the blessed with grants of
fertile land, which they cultivated for all future time or eternity,
and here they lived lives of content and bliss. The souls of
those who had led evil lives on earth were handed over to the
ministers of the wrath of Osiris, and they were hacked to pieces
with murderous knives, and then thrown into pits of fire where
their mutilated members were consumed, together with the
powers of darkness which had fought against Osiris and the
Sun-god Ra. From this point of view a judgment took place
daily, and each sunrise saw the judgment-halls of Osiris and
Ra empty.
The character of the Copts is hard to judge. They are
extremely bigoted, and are said to hate other Christians more
bitterly than they hate Muhammadans, but this is hardly to be
wondered at considering what they have suffered from the
hands of their co-religionists in past centuries. They are said,
even by their own people, to be sullen in temper, greedy, and
avaricious, and to pursue modern education merely for the
love of personal gain. Against this view must be set the fact
that until the rule of the. British in Egypt they never enjoyed
THE BADAWiN. 289
real freedom, and it is probable that just treatment and

government may develop the best traits which they possess,
and cause to disappear the results of centuries of persecution
and oppression. Many competent authorities consider the
Copts to be the ablest and most intellectual of all the natives
of Egypt.
The Bad a win are represented by the various Arabic-
speaking and Muhammadan tribes, who live in the deserts
which lie on each side of the Nile; they amount in number to
about 250,000. The Bisharin,* Hadanduwa, and ‘Ababdah
tribes, who speak a language called “ tu badhawiya,” and who
live in the most southern part of Upper Egypt, Nubia, and
Abyssinia, are included among this number.! Among these
three tribes the institutions of Muhammad are not observed
with any great strictness. When the Badawin settle down to
village or town life they appear to lose all the bravery and
fine qualities of independent manhood which characterize them
when they live in their home, the desert. The classical name
for the desert tribes is “ Trabiyun,” or
“ ‘Urban,” but
a dweller in the flat, open desert is called “ Badawi,” or
“ Badawi,” the plural being “ Badawiyun.” This name
was introduced into European literature by the early French
Arabists, who always spoke of “ les Bedouins.’
7
The inhabitants of Cairo, Alexandria, and other large towns

form a class of people quite distinct from the other inhabitants
of Egypt in Alexandria there is a very large Greek element,
;
and in Cairo the number of Turks is very great. In the

bazaars of Cairo one may see the offspring of marriages between
members of nearly every European nation and Egyptian or
Nubian women, the colour of their skins varying from a dark
brick-red to nearly white. The shopkeepers are fully alive to
their opportunities of making money, and would, beyond
doubt, become rich but for their natural indolence and belief
in fate. Whatever they appear, or however much they may
mask their belief in the Muhammadan religion, it must never be
forgotten that they have the greatest dislike to every religion
but their own. The love of gain alone causes them to submit
* The Bisharin (sing. Bishari are the representatives of the
Bega or Beja of Arabic writers, of the BOVrAEITTlN

of the
Axum Inscriptions, and probably of the Bukka, a nation conquered by
Thothmes III.
t See Almkvist, Die Bischari-Sprache Tu-Bedawie in Nordost Afrika ,
Upsala, 1881. Vol. II, Upsala, 1885.
T
to the remarks made upon them by Europeans, and to suffer

their entrance and sojourning among them.
The Nubians, or Berbers (Barabara), as they are sometimes
called, inhabit the tract of land which extends from Aswan, or
Syene, to the Fourth Cataract. The word Nubia appears to be
derived from nub “ gold/ because Nubia was a gold-producing
5
,
”
country. The word Berber is considered to mean “ barbarian
by some, and to be also of Egyptian origin. They speak a
language which is allied to some of the North African tongues,
but often speak Arabic well. The Nubians found in Egypt are
generally doorkeepers and domestic servants, who can usually
be depended upon for their honesty and obedience.
The Negroes form a large part of the non-native population
of Egypt, and are employed by natives to perform hard work,
or are held by them as slaves. They are Muhammadans by
religion, and come from the countries of the Southern Sudan.
Negro women make good and faithful servants.
The Syrian Christians who have settled down in Egypt are
generally known by the name of Levantines. They are
shrewd business men, and the facility and rapidity with which
they learn European languages place them in positions of trust
and emolument.
The Turks form a comparatively small portion of the
population of Egypt, but many civil and military appointments
are, or were, in their hands. Many of them are the children of
Circassian slaves. The merchants
are famous for their civility
to foreigners and keen eye to business.
their
The Armenians and Jews form a small but important
part of the inhabitants in the large towns of Egypt. The
former are famous for their linguistic attainments and wealth ;
the latter have blue eyes, fair hair and skin, and busy them-
selves in mercantile pursuits and the business of bankers and
money-changing.
The European population in Egypt consists of Greeks,
62,974; Italians, 34,926; English, 20,653; French, 14,891:
Austrians, 7,705 ; Russians, 2,410 ; Germans, 1,847 j Spaniards,
797 Swiss, 636 ;
;
Americans, 521 ; Belgians, 340 ; Dutch, 185 ;
Persians, 1,385 ; Miscellaneous, 2,300. The greater part of the
business of Alexandria is in the hands of the Greek merchants,
many of whom are famous for their wealth. It is said that the
Greek community contributes most largely to the crime in the
country, but if the size of that community be taken into
account, it will be found that this statement is not strictly true,
EUROPEAN POPULATION OF EGYPT. 291
The enterprise and good business habits of the Greeks in

Alexandria have made the great city that it is.
it The French,
Austrian, German, and English nations are likewise represented
there and in Cairo by several first-rate business houses. The
destructive fanaticism peculiar to the Muhammadan mind, so
common in the far east parts of Mesopotamia, seems to be
non-existent in Egypt such fanaticism as exists is, no doubt,
;
kept in check by the presence of Europeans, and all the

different peoples live side by side in a most peaceable manner.
It should always be remembered that waves of fanaticism pass
over all Muhammadan peoples at intervals, and it must be
confessed that the Pan-Islamic propagandists in Egypt are
producing a feeling of unrest in the country, and that dis-
affection in the army is likely to be the result. A certain
section in the community is always crying “ Egypt for the
Egyptians,” and many of its members cannot see that they
are being cleverly worked by emissaries from abroad whose
real aim is “Egypt for the Turks.” These emissaries do their
best to blind the minds of the unthinking lower classes to the
fact that they owe their freedom from the whip, the corvee
and slavery to the British rulers in Egypt. And they also try
to make the people believe that the money invested by
European firms and companies in Egypt is the result of
the labours of the Egyptians, which has been taken from
them by unjust means. Happily the Anglo-French Agree-
ment permits England to continue her great civilizing work
in Egypt without check from the most enlightened nation
on the Continent, the French, and there is now no fear that
Egypt will sink back into the misery and corrupt state to
which it had been brought by Turkish misrule. The great
benefit derived by Egypt from the immigration of Europeans
during the last few years is evident from the increased
material prosperity of the country, and the administration of
equitable laws which has obtained. The European element
in Egypt now contributes to the revenue in taxation a consider-
able sum annually.
t 2
292
CHAPTER XVII.
Muhammadan Architecture and Art in Cairo.
The Architecture and Art of the Muhammadans may be
said to have sprung into being when the Arabs ceased to be a
purely nomadic people, and when they found it necessary to
construct large mosques and tombs, for these two classes of
buildings are, after all, the principal sources from which our
knowledge of Arab architecture and art is derived. As soon
as the Arabs had conquered all Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, and
their ruler wished to construct mosques at Damascus, Jeru
salem, and Madinah, he applied to the Greek Emperor at
Constantinople, who sent him workmen that were skilled in
Byzantine architecture and its methods and ornament, and
thus it came to pass that the substratum of Arab architecture
is of Byzantine origin, and that one of its most important
characteristics, namely, the arcade on pillars, is due to this

influence. In a very short time, however, the form of the arcade
and of its supports was altered, and the decoration used to
ornament them soon assumed the character which is the
peculiar product of the Arab mind. The religion of the Arabs
prevented them from employing figures of men and animals
in their architectural works, for the Prophet Muhammad classed
statues with wine, games of chance, and divination by means
of arrows, and declared that all these were invented by Satan.
This being the case the Arabs were driven to make use of
designs of flowers, plants, fruits, &c., which they mingled with
intricate leaf compositions and geometrical patterns, harmon-
izing great detail with a comparatively bold and open treat-
ment of symbols in a way which has won the admiration of the
greatest experts in Western Architecture and Art. The forms
and shapes of large buildings in Cairo and in other Muham-
madan centres have been greatly modified by the influence of
climate as well as of religion. In the first place, the Arab
ideal of a beautiful building in a dry and thirsty land was one
wherein fountains and gardens were mingled with grand and
imposing buildings ; and secondly, it followed almost naturally
that if this combination were made, the buildings with their
enclosures must be square or rectangular, and must contain
several covered galleries which would provide both shade and
coolness, among which fountains bowered in abundant vegeta-
MOSQUES OF CAIRO. 293
tion might
play. One of the principal features of Arab archi-
tecture the naked exterior of the buildings, which strikes the
is
beholder with a sense of bareness and coldness, and it seems

as if this feature was specially perpetuated in order to make
the contrast between the exterior and interior of the building
more striking. The square capital is another peculiar feature
of Arab mosques, tombs, etc., and when we consider this
characteristic, which is derived from the Byzantine, in con-
nection with its peculiar decoration, it is impossible to con-
found an Arab capital with that of any other order of
architecture.
Theoldest mosque in Egypt, that of ‘Amr, was founded
a. d.643, but has been frequently restored; it was originally
about 75 yards long, and 45 feet wide. Its shape resembled
that of the mosque of Madinah, which consisted of a small
enclosure of brick; this was partially covered over by a
roof made of planks, which were supported on palm trunks
plastered gypsum.
over with Between 641 and 868 the
Mosque ‘Amr was enlarged twice, and it was almost entirely
of
rebuilt by Abd Al-Malik and Walid, the builders of the
Mosques of Jerusalem and Damascus. Mr. Fergusson says
Architecture Vol. II, p. 381): “In its present state it may
(. ,
be considered as a fair specimen of the form which mosques

took when they had quite emancipated themselves from the
Christian models, or rather when the court before the narthex
of the Christian church had absorbed the basilica, so as to
become itself the principal part of the building, the church
part being spread out into a mere deep colonnade, and its
three apsidal altars modified into niches pointing toward the
sacred Mecca.” For about a century and a half after the
rebuilding of the Mosque of ‘Amr there is a gap in the history
of Arab architecture, and during this period no great building
was undertaken in Egypt. In 868 Ahmad ibn-Tulun began
to build the mosque which is called after his name, and this is
preserved in a wonderfully complete state at the present day.
It was completed in 878, and consists of a large court
surrounded by arcades, which follow the general plan of the
Mosque of ‘Amr. “ The whole style of the mosque shows an
immense advance on that of its predecessor, all trace of Roman
or Byzantine art having disappeared in the interval, and the
Saracenic architecture appearing complete in all its details,
the parts originally borrowed from previous styles having been
worked up and fused into a consentaneous whole. Whether
294 MUHAMMADAN ARCHITECTURE.
this took place in Egypt itself during the century and a hall
that had elapsed is by no means clear ; and it is more than
probable that the brilliant Courts of Damascus and Baghdad
did more than Egypt towards bringing about the result. At
all events from this time we find no backsliding; the style in
Egypt at last takes its rank as a separate and complete archi-
tectural form.” (Fergusson, Ibid., p. 383.) The court of the
Mosque of Tulun is about 300 feet square ; no pillars are used
in its construction, except as engaged corner shafts, and all the
arches, which are invariably pointed, are supported by massive
piers. The court has on three sides two ranges of arcades,
and on the Mecca side there are five, but instead of running
parallel to the side they run across the mosque from east to
west. The general character of the arcades and their orna-
ments “is that of bold and massive simplicity, the counterpart
of our own Norman style. A certain element of sublimity and
power, in spite of occasional clumsiness, is common to both
these styles. The external openings are filled with that
peculiar sort of tracery which became as characteristic of this
style as that of the windows of our churches five centuries
afterwards is of Gothic style.”
The next great Mosque of Cairo is Al = Azhar, i.e., “the
splendid,” which was begun in 969 and finished in three years
under the rule of Al-Mu‘izz Ma‘add ; it shows a great
advance in elegance of detail over that of Tulun. The
Mosque of Al = Hakim was finished some 30 years later.
Next in point of age come :(1) The tomb-mosque of
As-Salih, which was built in the reign of Turanshah in J249 ;
(2) the Mosque of Adh-I3 hahir Beybars I, built in 1268; (3)

the Mosque of Kalahari, built in 1279; (4) the Mosque of
An-Nasir Muhammad, built in 1318; (5) the Mosque of
Kusun, built in 1329; (6) the Mosque of Al-Maridany, built
in 1339 ; (6) the Mosque of Aksunkur, built in 1347 (7) the
;
Mosque of Sultan Hasan, built in 1356 and (7) the Mosque

;
of Barkuk. In the last-named building the pointed arch is

used “ with as much lightness and elegance as ever it reached
in the West. The dome has become a truly graceful and
elaborate appendage, forming not only a very perfect ceiling,
but a most imposing ornament to the exterior. Above all, the
minaret has here arrived at as high a degree of perfection as
it ever reached in any after-age.” The Mosque of Sultan
Hasan is one of the most remarkable mosques which has
ever been erected in any country. Its appearance is bold and
massive on every side, and “ the building has all the apparent
and seems more worthy of the descendants
solidity of a fortress,
of the ancient Pharaohs than any work of modem times in
Egypt.” Instead of the usual arcades we see here that one
gigantic niche opens in each face of the court ; all four niches
are covered with simple tunnel vaults of a pointed form,
without either ribs or intersections, and for simple grandeur
are unrivalled by any similar arches known to exist anywhere.
One of its two minarets is the highest and largest in Cairo,
The Mosque of Sultan Hasan.
and probably in any part of the world. The Mosque of

Al = Mu‘ayyad, which was built in 1420, is a fine example of
a mosque with columns, and the Tomb = Mosque of Ka’it
Bey, outside the walls of the city of Cairo, is perhaps the
most graceful of all this class of building in Egypt. It has
been rightly described as a “ perfect model of the elegance we
generally associate with the architecture of this people, and
it is perhaps unrivalled by anything Egypt, and far surpasses
in
the Alhambra or the other Western buildings of its age.”
Another authority on Saracenic Art, Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole,
believes that in this building we see the dome and minaret in
296 MUHAMMADAN ARCHITECTURE,
Hasan.
Sultan
mwm of
Mosque
the
of
Section
1
The Niche and Pulpit in the Mosque of Al-Mu‘ayyad,

MOSQUES OF CAIRO. 2 99
their utmost perfection, and the proportions of the cruciform

mosque most admirably displayed.
The sanctuary of a mosque, or liwan is on the
,
Mecca
side of the building, and its
most important parts are :
(i) The mihrab which,

indi-
cates the kiblah or direction
of Mecca towards which the
Muhammadans pray ; (2)
the
mimbar ,
or pulpit, from which
the weekly address on Friday
is delivered
; (2) the dikka,
or tribune, from which the
prayers and the chapters of
the Kur’an are read ; and
(4) a seat for the shekh.
Lamps are suspended from
Section of the Mosque of Ka’it Bey.
the roofs, the walls are ornamented with passages from the
Kudan, and outside, but quite near the mosque, is a fountain.
* 1 )—
3 °° MUHAMMADAN ARCHITECTURE.
The following are the principal mosques which still exist in

Cairo :
—
Mosque of Built A. D. Mosque of Built A. D.
‘Amr 641 Aksunkur 1347
Ibn-Tulun 878 Sheykhu 1
35 5
Al-Azhar 971 Suyurghatmish ... T
35 6
Al-Hakim 990-1012 Sultan Hasan ... i
35 6
Ash-ShafTy 1 2 1 Umm ShaTan ... 1368
As-Salih... 1249 Barkuk ... 1
3S4
Adh-Dhahir 1268 Barkuk (in the
KalaTm... 1279 cemetery) 1405-1410
An-Nasir 1 298 Al-Mu‘ayyad 1420
Beybars II 1306 Al-Ashraf Bars-
An-Nasir (in the Bey ... 1423
Citadel) i 3'8 Al-Ashraf Inal ... J
45 6
Singar Al-Gawaly Ka’itBey 1472
and Salar 1323 Kigmas ... 1481
Al-Maridany ‘... :
339 Ezbek ... 1499
Mosque and Tomb- Mosque of Ghoriyah ... I 5°3
The houses of Egypt and Syria consist of series of rooms
which are built in two or three storeys round a rectangular
courtyard ;
the greater number of the windows in each storey
Plan of a Mouse
in Cairo
Ground Floor.
( After Ebers and
Poole.
A. Stable.
B. Bakehouse.
C. Kitchen.
D. Small Reception Room.
E. Entrance.
F. Guest Rcom.
(t. Large Reception Room.
H. Sitting Room.
I. Court.
J. Servants’ Room.
look into the courtyard, and every window, whether it looks

into the courtyard or into the street, is provided with high
* See Lane-Poole, Art of the Saracens , p. 86 .
)
HOUSES OF EGYPT. 3 QI
blinds of lattice work. The Arab in his house loves privacy,

and he spares no pains building passages with sharp bends
in
in them to prevent the prying of inquisitive eyes, and he
endeavours to prevent the women and girls in his house both
from seeing strangers and being seen by them. The projecting
windows which form such an important characteristic of Arab
houses have their openings carefully covered over with wooden
shutters and with blinds mgde of wood, and if they are glazed
the glass is either painted or allowed to become so dirty that
it is almost impossible to obtain a clear view of what is going
on in the street through it. Speaking generally, the outer walls

of the house are not ornamented, but the layers of stone in the
lower courses are often coloured red and white alternately.
Plan of a House
in Cairo-
First Floor.
(After Ebers and

Poole.
A. Servants’ Room.
JB. Store closet.
C. Space overRooms.
D. Men’s Rooms.
E. Reception Room.
F. Space over Reception Room.
G. Court.
H. Guest Rooms.
The doors of the houses which were built from 70 to 100 years
ago are often beautifully ornamented, and the stone arches
above them are frequently carved with intricate and delicate
designs. A short passage leads the visitor into the courtyard
of the house, where there is often a tree by the side of a well,
or even several trees. The rooms which are on the ground
floor are devoted chiefly to the servants and the male occupants
of the house, and among them is the chamber in which male
visitors are received. The floor of one portion of this room is
higher than the rest, it are laid carpets and cushions or
and on
mattresses on which the visitors are expected to sit cross-
legged. Sometimes long, low, wooden benches, with arms
and backs, are arranged along each side of this room, and on
— )
3°2 MUHAMMADAN ARCHITECTURE.
these the cushions are placed. The walls above the cushions
are often only limewhitened or distempered red or some shade
of blue or green ; usually there are a number of small niches
in them, with shelves, and these take the place of cupboards
with us.
Wealthy folk have their walls panelled with wood, inlaid
with bone or ivory, mother-of-pearl, etc., and. the roof and
beams are often inlaid and painted. On one side of such a
room there are often several windows, and there is generally
a window at the end which faces the door. The visitors sit or
recline on the cushions, and if they are partaking of a meal they
group themselves round the tray of food which is placed on a
low stand ; in some houses in Egypt strict attention is paid
Plan of a House
in Cairo
Second Floor.
(After Ebers
and Poole.
A. Miscellaneous Rooms.
B. Bath.
C. Ladies’ Apartments.
D. E. Spaces over rooms.
F. Court.
G. Guest Rooms.
to the position in a room which a visitor is invited to take. If

he an honoured or a very welcome guest he is invited to sit
is
up at the end of the room near the master of the house ; if he

is not he takes his seat near the door. The floor of the room
near the door is lower than the portion on which the visitors
sit, and it is here that they leave their shoes or sandals before
they walk up on to the carpets. In a house of two or three

storeys the rooms of the harhn i.e., the women’s apartments,
,
are on the upper floor or floors, and here the women of the
household live with their servants, often in very considerable
comfort. The husband and sons often have their rooms on
this same floor, and there is also a guest room, which can be
HOUSES OF EGYPT. 3°3
turned into a bedroom by night by bringing into it a few

cushions, a pillow, and a padded blanket. The houses even
of the best Arabs have little furniture in them, and almost any
chamber can be turned into a reception room, or a dining
room, or a bedroom, in half-an-hour.
All the ornamentation of the older houses is in good taste,
but in recent years the cheap wall-mirrors and tawdry coloured
glass vases, and hideous oleographs, which are exported to
Egypt by civilized nations, have become common, and the
signs of a refined and cultivated taste are rapidly disappearing
under Western The arrangement of the rooms
influence.
on the third storey is much the same as of those on the
second, but they are usually much smaller in size, and are
occupied by the least important female members of the house-
hold. The roofs are flat, and the inmates of the houses
bring up their cushions and sleep in the open air during
several months of the year. On the roof of every house of a
certain size will be seen a sloping construction made of wood,
the open part of which always faces the north. The object
of this is to catch the north wind, and to conduct it down a
passage or flight of stairs into the house. Sometimes it is
made large enough for people to sit in. In the construction of
dwelling-houses there seems to be no hard-and-fast rule, and
the above remarks must be taken to refer to a comfortable
house such as a middle class family would live in. Wealthy
folk usually live in houses which stand each in its own garden
or grounds, which are planted with trees, and have tiled walks
and fountains, raised balconies, etc., and in such cases the
decoration of the interiors of the rooms, and of the doors,
doorways, etc., is extremely fine.
The European who is interested in architecture in general,
and is accustomed to admire the work of Western architects,
will probably be disappointed with the mosques and tomb-
buildings of the Muhammadans in Cairo. Different reasons for
this have been urged by different writers, but the most con-
clusive, probably, are those which are described by Mr. Stanley
Lane-Poole, in his Art of the Saracens where he says (p. 83),
,
“ The Saracen builders do not seem to have been possessed

with an architectural idea ; the leading consideration with them
seems to have been not form, but decoration. For the details
of the decoration it is impossible to feel too much admiration ;
they are skilfully conceived and worked out with remarkable
patience, honesty, and artistic feeling. But the form, of which
they are the clothing, seems too often to want purpose; there is
a curious indefiniteness about the mosques, a want of crown and
summit, which sets them on a much lower level than the finest
of our Gothic cathedrals. It is perhaps unfair to judge of them
in their more or less ruinous state ; yet their present picturesque
decay is probably more effective than was the sumptuous
gorgeousness of their colours and ornament when new. The
want of bold relief in the ornament is one of the most salient
defects to us of the north we find the surfaces of the mosque
:
exteriors flat and monotonous. The disregard of symmetry is

another very trying defect to eyes trained in other schools of
architecture ; the windows, minarets, etc., are scattered with
no sense of balance and the dome, instead of crowning the
;
whole edifice, covers a tomb at the side of the building, and

thus infallibly gives it a lop-sided aspect. It is chiefly to the
grace of their minarets, the beauty of their internal decora-
tion, and the soft effects of the Egyptian atmosphere upon the
yellowish stone of which they are built that the mosques of
Cairo owe their peculiar and indestructible charm. A charm
they have undoubtedly, which is apparent and fascinating to
most beholders ; but it is due, I believe, to tone and air, to
association, to delicacy and ingenuity of detail, and not to the
architectural form. . Nevertheless, when all has been said,
. .
the mosques and older houses of Cairo possess a beauty of

their own which no architectural canons can gainsay. The
houses in particular, by their admirable suitableness in all
respects to the climate of Egypt, their shady, restful aspect,
and subdued light, must take a high place among the triumphs
of domestic architecture. We may detect a lack of meaning
in this feature and in that, but we are forced to admit that the
whole effect is soft and harmonious, sometimes stately, always
graceful, and that the Saracenic architecture of Cairo, whatever
its technical faults, is among the most characteristic and
beautiful forms of building with which we are acquainted.”
The art of the Muhammadans expresses itself chiefly in the
ornamentation of surfaces, which it covers with intricate and
beautiful designs. One

of the oldest forms of decoration is
the plaster frieze, which was worked with a tool when moist,
and was not cast ; for about 600 years (640-1320) designs in
plaster were commonly employed in the ornamentation of
great mosques, and then plaster work was abandoned in favour
of carved stone or marble. In stone, as in plaster, the floral
motif predominates, but the designs in stone are far less
MINARETS, 305
Pasha. U
MINARETS. 307
U 2
f
308 MUHAMMADAN ART.
intricate than those in plaster. The stone pulpit set up in

1483 by Ka’it Bey in the Mosque of Barkhk is believed to be
“ the most splendid example of stone chiselling that can be
seen in Cairo/’ and the finest geometrical ornament and pure
arabesque work belong to this period. The Wekala or Khan
variety.*
built by Ka’it Bey on the south side of Al-Azhar Mosque
was beautifully ornamented with designs of every kind, and the
front of it, which faces the mosque, still exhibits a fine
The stalactite or pendentive bracketing, which is so marked a
characteristic of Saracenic art,
**
is also well displayed in the
Mosque of Ka’it Bey. Its first and principal use is for masking
the transition from the square of the mausoleum to the circle
of the dome. The pendentive was speedily adopted by the
Arabs of Egypt in a great variety of shapes, and for almost
every conceivable architectural and ornamental purpose ; to
effect the transition from the recessed windows to the outer
plane of a building ; and to vault, in a similar manner, the
great porches of mosques, which form so grand a feature
characteristic of the style. All the more simple woodwork of
dwelling-houses was fashioned in a variety of curious patterns
of the same character ; the pendentive, in fact, strongly marks
the Arab fashion of cutting off angles and useless material,
always in a pleasing and constructively advantageous manner.
The mosaic work of the Muhammadans appears to have
been borrowed from the Copts ; it is unlike any mosaic work
known in Europe, and is highly characteristic, and often
very beautiful. Pieces of marble or hard stones of different
colours, small plaques of porcelain, and pieces of mother-of-
pearl are arranged in geometrical patterns, and are set in
plaster. Certain portions of mosques are ornamented with
mosaic work, and mosaic pavements are not uncommon.
Like the ancient Egyptians, the modern inhabitants of the
country were skilled workers in metal, and whether in
chasing or engraving, or inlaying with gold, silver, or copper,
the best artists have produced most beautiful specimens of
their handicraft. The designs which are inlaid in metal panels,
lamps, bowls, caskets, tables, etc., are chiefly of a geometrical
and floral character, and are remarkable alike for their beauty
and their continuity; the best examples belong to the four-
* Casts of a number of these, made from paper squeezes taken by
Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, are to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
f See E. Stanley Poole in Lane’s Modern Egyptians ,
5th edit.,
pp. 586-588.
WOOD-CARVING AND GLASS-MAKING. 309
teenth century, and suggest that they were developed from a

system of ornamentation which was introduced into Egypt
from the East by way of Baghdad and Damascus.
The arts of wood = carving and ivory-inlay work appear
to have been borrowed from the Copts, in whose churches
carved panels and panels inlaid with ivory were well known
before the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs.
G lass = makingis an art which was practised in Egypt
in very early times,, well-known examples of glass objects

being the opaque blue glass vase inscribed with the pre-
nomen of Thothmes III, and the glass vessels from the tomb
of Amen-hetep II, now in the British Museum. The earliest
examples of Muhammadan glass objects in Egypt are the
3 IG MUHAMMADAN ART.
glass coin standards,which are stamped with the names of

Egyptian governors who ruled by the grace of the Khalifahs
of Damascus and Baghdad in the eighth, ninth, and eleventh
centuries of our era. In the eleventh century there seems
to have been a glass lamp market near the Mosque of
‘Amr, and in the fourteenth century the art of glass-making
reached its highest pitch of perfection. The oldest Arab
glass vessel known is said to be in the collection of M.

Charles Schefer : it was made before 1277 for Badr ad-Din.
Muhammadan glass-workers excelled in the making of lamps
for mosques, and these show that their makers were tolerably
expert glass-blowers, and could produce vessels of considerable
size;
but the glass is of bad colour, and full of bubbles and
imperfections. The makers had learned, probably from the
Byzantines, the art of gilding and enamelling glass, and made
POTTERY, MANUSCRIPTS, ETC. 3II
much use of it. Inscriptions in large characters are favourite

ornaments ; figures of birds, animals, sphinxes and other
monsters are found. The outlines are generally put on in
red enamel, the spaces between being often gilt. The enamels
are used sometimes as grounds, and sometimes for the
ornaments; the usual colours are blue, green, yellow, red,
pale red, and white.
# A fine collection of more than 60
enamelled glass lamps is exhibited in the National Museum
of Arab Art in Cairo, and it is thought that they were all
made in Egypt.
The art of making pottery of a high class has died out
in Egypt, and it is now only represented by the porous
water-bottles which are made in Upper Egypt, and by the
red-glazed cups, jugs, etc., which are made at Asyftt. This
is a curious fact, especially when we remember that the
potters of the Pre-Dynastic Period were past-masters in their
craft, and that in the eleventh century of our era the potters
of Cairo were famous for the delicateness of their vessels,
the gracefulness of their shapes and forms, and the beauty
of the iridescent glaze with which they were sometimes
covered. Glazed porcelain tiles were largely used for
mosques and other buildings in the Middle Ages in Cairo,
but experts are not agreed as to which exactly were home
made, and which were imported from Damascus. A good
specimen of modern tile-work, on which the Ka‘abah at Mecca
is represented in perspective, is No. 167, Room 6, of the
National Museum of Arab Art at Cairo. Finally, those who
wish to gain an idea of Muhammadan art as illustrated by the
writing and binding of manuscripts should visit the Khedivial
Library and the Museum of Arab Art. In the former building
there have been collected the fine illuminated copies of the
Kur’an which originally belonged to the chief mosques of
Cairo. The oldest of these is written in the Cufic, or Kftfi,
character ; the titles of the chapters are ornamented with gold,
and there are several coloured letters in the text. It is said to
have been written by Ja‘far As-Sadik, who lived early in the
eighth century, but, although the book is undoubtedly very
old, no one believes this story. From an artistic point of view
the Kur’ans which were written in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries are more interesting. The characters of the copy
written for Muhammad An-Nasir are all gilded, and the
Opening pages of that written for Khamend Baraka in the
* Nesbitt, A., Descriptive Catalogue p. lxiv.
,
3 12 MUHAMMADAN ART,
769th year of the Hijrah contain wonders of illumination and

penmanship. Very beautiful work, both as regards writing and
decoration, is found in some of the small copies of the Kur’an,
which were carried as amulets by pious Muslims. Examples
of these appear from time to time, and they are always
instructive. These little books are about 3 inches square, and
the text is written on very fine leaves of vellum in good black
ink. The diacritical marks and vowels are often added in inks
of various colours, and the titles of the chapters are in gold.
At the beginning of the book pictures of the Ka‘abah at
Mecca and other objects sacred to the Muhammadans are
given in well-chosen artistic colours. A Kur’an amulet often
takes the form of a beautifully illuminated vellum roll about
2j inches wide, and several feet in length. The case in which
such an amulet is carried is usually made of silver, inscribed
with sacred names and richly carved.
The bindings of many Arab MSS. are beautiful pieces
of work, but they have, of course, all the characteristics of
Saracenic ornamentation, and many find the minute designs
and all their intricacies disappointing and fatiguing to the eye.
Designs with polygonal figures are often employed, and the
arabesques appear frequently. According to some authorities
a change came over the binder’s art when the Turks conquered
Egypt, and the native industry perished. The Turks abandoned
the polygonal design and the arabesque, and introduced a
series of ornaments, the Persian origin of which was pro-
claimed by their naturalistic motifs. The next step was to
make use of a mould-stamp for the cover, and designs now
became filled with figures of men and animals ; at a later time
designs were pinked out, and portions of the leather were
gilded or coloured according to the somewhat garish taste of
the workman. The varnished bindings appear to be of Persian
origin, and they do not in any case concern us, for they are
too modern. At the present day fine binding is a lost art in
Egypt.
;
3 T 3
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Modern Egyptians — Narcotics and Amusements,

One of the greatest enjoyments of many classes of the modern
Egyptian is to do nothing, especially if he has sufficient means
to provide himself with coffee, and with some narcotic in the
form of tobacco, opium, hashish, i.e. Cannabis Indica, or
9
Indian hemp, etc. The drinking of wine and strong drink

of every kind is prohibited to the true believer with no
uncertain voice in the Kur’an, and the passages in which the
prohibition is laid down have formed the subject of much
comment by Muhammadans in all countries, A passage in
Sura II says “ They will ask thee concerning wine and lots;
:
answer in both there is great sin, and things of use unto men
but their sinfulness is greater than their use.” Some are of
opinion that excess in wine-drinking only is here forbidden,
but the stricter Muhammadans hold that men should not
taste, touch, or handle wine, spirits, or strong drink of any
kind. In spite of this, however, it is quite certain that
Muhammad the Prophet did drink a kind of wine called
nebidh, and many of his followers considered that its use
was lawful. Nebidh is made by soaking dried grapes or dates
in water for a few days, until the liquor ferments slightly, or
acquires sharpness or pungency. The Prophet drank the
liquor in which grapes or dates had been soaked for one
or two days, but on the third day he either gave it to his
servants or had it poured on the ground. At the present
time Muhammadans drink in private many kinds of European
wines and spirits and beer, and excuse themselves for so doing
by calling them “medicine.” Arab literature proves that the
Muhammadans were great drinkers of nebidh, and contains
records of many disgraceful acts committed by the illustrious
when drunk, and shows that the punishments prescribed by
the law for the drinking of wine and spirits did not act as
deterrents. A freeman might be beaten with 80 stripes, and
a slave with 40, and if the crime were committed in the day-
time during the month of Ramadan, i.e ., during the great fast,
the punishment for the offender was death. At the end of
1904 there were in ail Egypt at least 4,015 drinking shops.
In 1905 about 466 applications for licences to sell alcoholic
drinks were made, and 370 were refused. There is little or
3 E4 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.
no drinking inthe villages in Egypt, but in the towns there

is a certain amount of intoxication. The amount of alcohol
made in Egypt is increasing yearly.
The place of wine was taken by coffee, which is called to this
day by a very ancient name for old wine, i.e ., “ ‘Kahwah.” The
properties of the coffee berry were discovered accidentally by
one ‘Omar, who had fled into Yaman from persecution with a
few followers in the thirteenth century. Being reduced by want
of provisions to cook the berries of the coffee plant which grew
there in abundance, he experienced the effects familiar to all
who indulge in strong “ black ” coffee. About two centuries
later coflee was drunk publicly in Aden and its neighbourhood,
and it was introduced into Egypt at the end of the fifteenth or
beginning of the sixteenth century by some natives of Southern
Arabia. The use of coffee has been the subject of fierce
debates, and the number of the decisions by Muhammadan
divines condemning its use are as numerous as those which
permit it. Its sale has been alternately prohibited and legalized,
and at the present time it is drunk by every class of Muham-
madan presumably without scruple. The modern coffee-house
is a most popular institution among the lower classes, and is
mostly frequented in the afternoon and evening ; the benches

outside the shop, which are provided by the proprietor, are
well filled, and men sit on them, and play games of chance and
smoke their cigarettes or pipes. In the evening professional
story-tellers appear, and being provided with a seat and a cup
of coffee proceed to entertain the company with narratives of
a vivid character. At intervals a collection is made in the
story-teller’s favour, the amounts given varying, of course, in
proportion to the pleasure which the listeners have derived
from the entertainer. In times past coffee-houses have been
hotbeds of sedition and conspiracy, and even now a better idea
of the opinion of the Egyptian “ man in the street ” on any
given social question can be obtained from the coffee-shop
than elsewhere.
Tobacco was introduced into Egypt about a century later
than coffee, and its use has been discussed with as much
keenness as that of coffee. Eew Muhammadans scruple about
smoking in these days, even though the following saying is
traditionally ascribed to their Prophet :
—
“ In the latter days
there shall be men who bear the name of Muslims, but they
shall not be really such, for they shall smoke a certain weed
which shall be called Tobacco”! Coffee and tobacco are
TOBACCO, HASHISH, OPIUM. 3T5
considered so important that the following sayings have become

proverbial :
—
(i) “ A cup of coffee and a pipe of tobacco form
a complete entertainment” ; and (2) “Coffee without tobacco
is meat without salt.”
For several centuries past the Egyptians have been addicted

to the use of hashish, or Indian hemp, which when smoked
produces a species of intoxication, which is more or less intense
according to the length of time it is smoked. The properties
of the plant were well known in ancient times, for the Indians
have from time immemorial chewed the leaves and seeds, and
employed them in many ways, both for good and evil. The
seeds pounded with sweet and aromatic substances in the form
of jam have often been administered as an aphrodisiac. From
India the herb passed into Persia, and subsequently into Con-
stantinople and Egypt, where it is beloved by the lower classes.
Its importation is prohibited, but although the coastguard service
watches the ports and the neighbouring shores with sleepless
vigilance, a very large quantity is smuggled into the country.
In 1902 about 16,768 kilos, were seized and confiscated, and in
1903 about 24,349 kilos. in 1902 its price was 60 francs per
;
kilo., and in 1903 it was even higher. In 1904 about 21,369

kilos, were confiscated; 15,380 kilos., 16,290 kilos., and 23,000
kilos, were confiscated in 1907, 1908, 1909 respectively. The
price per kilo, varied between Ê.2^ and Ê.4. In each
pipe a piece of hashish, weighing about 2 grains, value 1 \d., is
placed with some hot charcoal ; the pipe is then handed to a
company of eight persons, each of whom pays about three
farthings for a long pull. The regular use of this drug is said
to induce insanity, and of the 366 patients who were admitted
to the lunatic asylum in 1903, some 67 were declared to be
suffering from insanity due to hashish. The Government does
all in itspower to prevent the spread of hashish smoking, and
in 1903 the tribunals ordered 22 cafes owned by Europeans,
and 1,681 belonging to natives, where hashish was sold, to be
finally closed. About 2,367, 1,820, 1,908 dens for smoking
hashish were closed by the Government in 1906, 1907, and
1908 respectively. In 1909 some 3,258 persons and in 1910
some 2,764 persons were prosecuted for using hashish, and
convicted. The hashish is brought from Greece to Tripoli,
thence it is carried by camels to the Oasis of Siwah, then
to the Oases of Bahariyah and Dakhlah, and so into Egypt.
The regular smoker of hashish is called “ hashshash,” and
the word indicates that the man to whom it is applied is
3 l6 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.
a debauchee. Many Egyptians smoke opium, but as its

effects are not so noisy or dangerous to his neighbours, the
opium smoker is not regarded with such contempt as the
smoker of hashish.
Gambling has in all ages been one of the delights of
the Egyptians, In recent years the Government have
made serious attempts to put down gambling in Cairo and
Alexandria, but to put a stop entirely to the vice is beyond
the power of any Government. In 1907 the Police conducted
43 successful prosecutions of Europeans and natives for
gambling; in 1908 about 80 professional gamblers were con-
victed, and 1909 about 30.
in
Next smoking the Egyptian’s chief enjoyment is the
to
Bath, which is of the kind commonly called “ Turkish ” the ;
word for bath is “fyammam.” Some baths admit male Arab

customers only, others women and children only, and others
both men and women, the former in the morning and the latter
in the afternoon. When the bath is appropriated to women
a piece of linen or drapery is hung over the entrance to warn
men not to enter. The old baths of the city are built of brick,
have domes in the roof, and are paved with earthenware and
marble tiles. The Muhammadan believes that baths and lava-
tories are haunted by spirits of a more or less evil and malicious
nature, and when he enters them often does so with his left
foot foremost, and he should say a prayer for protection against
the spirits. The modern bath is much more luxuriously fitted
than the old native bath, but the appointments and fittings
of a bath in Egypt as elsewhere depend upon the class of
customers who visit it. The older baths are not so clean as
the new ones, the supply of towels is not so abundant, and the
service is inferior. On the other hand, very expert bathmen
are found in the older institutions, and these thoroughly under-
stand how to knead the limbs, rub the feet, and crack the
joints, in such a way as to do the bather the most good.
The real view taken by the Egyptians about music, sing-
ing, and dancing is not easy to find out, but no people are
more pleased than they with these amusements. Music was
forbidden by Muhammad himself, for he thought that it
excited men’s passions and predisposed them to vice, and even
in the Arabian Nights (No. 899) we read of the damsel who
dressed herself in black, built a tomb, and repented that she
had sung to the lute. As a matter of fact the Egyptians sing
whenever they have a chance, and the boatmen and artisans,
MUSIC, SINGING, DANCING, ETC. 317
even when engaged in the most laborious duties, can find

breath enough to sing a kind of rhythmic chant, for song, in
our sense of the word, it can hardly be called. Among the
learned the art of chanting passages from the Kur’an is
carefully taught, and the member who has the best voice of
the clergy of a mosque is usually chosen to sing the call to
prayer from the minaret. Formerly blind men were chosen
because they could not look down into the courts or rooms of
their neighbours’ houses.
The system of music which was in use among the ancient
Arabs is not understood by the modern Egyptians, who appear
to have borrowed such music as they possess from other more
Eastern nations. Mr. Lane has pointed out that in the Arab
system the tone is divided into thirds, which, naturally, cannot
be produced by native instruments. The construction of the
tune issimple, and it contains many repetitions, but in the
mouth of an expert singer it usually produces a restful effect.
The old Arab songs usually chant the praises of the camel, the
glory of war and fighting, the beauty of some maiden, or the
exploits of some hero ;
modern songs are usually about love,
which is treated of in the Oriental manner.
characteristic
Many of the popular songs sung in Egypt at the present time
consist merely of a number of obvious descriptions of facts,
which are strung to a sort of monotonous chant ; others are of
a ribald or obscene character, and such are often heard in the
mouths of children. In every town and village of considerable
size there exist professional musicians and singers whose
services are hired for public and private entertainments. The
male singer is called “Alati,” and the female “Almah”
(plural, ‘Awalim) the better classes of each sort can usually
:
play some instrument. When employed in the house of

a man of wealth a sort of “ musicians’ gallery ” is set apart for
them near the largest room of the house, where the master and
his family can hear them in comfort. Strolling singers are
often met with on the great caravan roads, and the songs
which they sing by the camp fire are weird and plaintive ;
taken in conjunction with the surroundings, the clear starry
sky, the shadowy forms of the camels and donkeys, and the
picturesque forms of the members of the caravan, with their
interested, fire-lit faces, produce a curious effect upon the
listener. The principal instruments are the kamangah, i.e a .
9
two-stringed lute, the rababah, or one-stringed lute, the kanun,

or dulcimer, the ‘ud, another kind of lute, which is played
with a plectrum, the nai, or flute, the rikk, or tambourine, the

nakkarah, or kettledrum, the baz, another kind of drum, the
kas, or cymbals, the sagat, or castanets, the tar, a kind of
tambourine, the durabukah, which is made of wood, and is
covered sometimes with mother-of-pearl or tortoise-shell (this
instrument is often made of earthenware), the zummarah,
or double-reed pipe, and the arghul, or double-reed pipe, one
pipe of which is shorter than the other.
The dancing girls are called Ghawazi, and they used to
perform unveiled in the streets ; their public exhibitions are now
prohibited, but when they are hired to give an entertainment
in the courtyard of some large house in the provinces, large
numbers of people of all classes attend, and the performance
is to all intents and purposes a public one. The dancing
girls of Kena in Upper Egypt were notorious for their freedom
and license.
The snake charmers, who belong to the Rifa‘i dervishes,
perform some marvellous feats with serpents, and they certainly
seem to possess wonderful powers in dealing with snakes and
serpents of every kind known in Egypt, They handle them
with the greatest freedom, and the reptiles appear to do what-
ever they wish, and never attack them. These men, by means
not apparent to the uninitiated, can detect the presence of
a hidden snake wheresoever concealed, and they are frequently
employed by the natives who suspect that serpents have made
theirhomes in the walls and ceilings of their houses. It has
been said by those who understand the art of snake charming
as practised by experts in India that snake charmers inoculate
themselves with solutions of snake poison, the strength of
which they gradually increase until they are able to endure
the bites of snakes of the most venomous character without
losing their lives. They are also said to anoint themselves
with snake fat, whereby they acquire an odour which is pleasing
to the living reptiles, and to be able to know when a serpent
is near them by their sense of smell. Be this as it may, they
certainly discover the hiding places of snakes with great cor-
rectness, and many of them must possess some physical means
whereby the presence of snakes is made known to them.
Jugglers also thrive in Egypt, and they are warmly welcomed
wherever they appear ; many of their tricks are quite ordinary,
but every now and then a juggler is met with whose skill
is quite equal to that of the best Indian performers. In
former days numerous tumblers and rope = dancers attracted
JUGGLERS AND BUFFOONS. 3T9
large audiences in the streets, and the Ape = men and the
Buffoons earned a good livelihood. The performances of
the last two classes were of a most varied character, and they
usually ended in representations of scenes of gross obscenity.
In recent years they have been rarely seen in the better parts
of Cairo, but in the purely native quarters and the outskirts of
the city they are still exceedingly popular. The fact is that
the lower orders of Egypt love lewd stories, lewd jests, and
lewd buffoonery of all kinds, and sooner or later all dancers,
jugglers, and others who offer entertainment for an Egyptian
crowd, introduce the element of indecency or obscenity, for
the simple reason that it pays them better to do that than to
persevere in the exhibition of tricks of skill in sleight of hand
or strength.
The Egyptians delight greatly in the class of men called
Shu‘ara, literally, “poets,” who provide entertainment for
the public by reciting compositions, which are part prose and
part poetry, outside the cafes. A
“poet,” or rather story =
teller, is usually hired by the owner or keeper of the cafe,
and having taken up his position on some raised place outside
the shop he proceeds to relate some story, such as that of
Abu Zeyd, to the customers who, as they sip their coffee or
smoke, listen with great attention to the adventures of this
hero. At intervals he, or a companion, plays some notes
on a kind of iute which he has with him. He knows the
composition which he relates by heart, and if he has a pleasing
manner and a good voice he makes an hour or two pass
agreeably for his audience, and with profit for himself, for
many of the customers give him small sums of money, especially
”
if, knowing his audience, he is able to make “ topical allusions
successfully. In Egypt the fortune-telling Gipsies abound,

and marvellous stories are told of their prophetic powers, and
of the success with which they forecast events. Few of them,
however, possess the skill in their work which characterizes
the fortune-tellers in India, and the European who consults
them is usually disappointed with their efforts. On the other
hand, it must be admitted that they possess considerable
ability in reading character from faces, and among the older
gipsies there are many whom long experience has made shrewd
and correct exponents of men’s dispositions by observing their
gait, actions, and manner of speech.
The following gipsy story related by Sir Eldon Gorst in his
report (Egypt, No. i, 1909, p. 27) is well worth quoting, for it
illustrates the curious views of some of the people with whom the
e ,
British Administrator comes in contact, and shows that his task of

governing them and of keeping the peace is not so easy as some
imagine. The story would be incredible were it not supported by
trustworthy evidence. In December, 1908, a party of some twenty
rough-looking persons of both sexes, resembling neither feliahin
nor Bedawin, arrived at Asydt about the same time as a policeman
in charge of six camels. As the result of inquiries made by an
English official who happened to be on the spot, it appeared that
these people were gipsies, known in Arabic as Halabyin, i. .
originally from Aleppo, who travelled from village to village, the

women telling fortunes, and the men carrying on a considerable and
apparently lucrative trade in camels, horses, and other live-stock.
Six months previously, one member of the tribe had struck the
camel of another with a whip, an insult which could only be wiped
out, according to their custom, by the voluntary loss of valuable
property by each party, one bidding against the other, as at an
auction, until the aggrieved or offending party could not afford to
continue. When this occurs, the last bidder is considered to have
won the case, by having proved that he is the richer and, therefore,
the better man. Before the appearance of the camels at Asyfit,
about j£ 400 worth of property had already been sacrificed in the
following manner : —The aggrieved party began by slaughtering a
buffalo, the, carcase being appropriated by the neighbouring peasants.
The offender replied by killing two buffaloes, as a proof of the
justice of his cause. The first man then threw ^5 into the Nile, to
which his opponent answered with ^10, and so on, slaughtering
animals or throwing away gold, until property to the value of .£400
had been destroyed. On the arrival of the gipsies and their camels
at Asyut, the dispute broke out afresh, and the local authorities were
unable to effect a settlement until the parties concerned had parted
with their camels, which were worth about ^150, and bid up to
^416. In order to avert the slaughter of the camels and the
throwing of more money into the Nile, as the litigants at first wished,
it was suggested that the animals should be sold and the pro-
ceeds of the sale, as well as the money staked, given to a Moslem
charitable society. This solution was accepted, and when the result
was made known there were great rejoicings among the Halabyin.
The party then disappeared, apparently quite content that bloodshed
had been avoided, and an insult avenged at the cost of nearly ^1,000.
On the whole, the result of the great invasion of Europeans
and of Western civilization and methods, which has taken place
in Egypt during the last 20 years, has been to thrust native
amusements from the main streets of Cairo in the winter, and
there is little chance now of the traveller enjoying the sights and
scenes of Cairene life in the easy way that was possible some
50 years ago. The Egyptians themselves in large towns seem to
be indisposed to amuse themselves in the old way, and their
most characteristic customs are now best observed in provincial
towns and villages. This result is not to be wondered at when
we consider the number of the forces of Western civilization
which the Occupation of Egypt by the British has caused to be
SCHOOLS. 3 2t
brought to bear on her people. The children of well-to-do

families in the large towns now attend schools, and the great
object of parents is to get their sons into Government em-
ployment. At the Government Schools, and in the Schools
of the various Missions which are scattered throughout the
country, the boys are taught to be clean in person, and the
wearing of European clothes follows as a natural result. The
life and amusements which satisfied their fathers do not please
them, and youths and young men endeavour to assimilate

Western ideas and Western culture as much as possible. The
status and condition of women have greatly improved in
recent years, and at the present time a great change is pass-
ing over the habits of a large portion of the population which
must have far-reaching results. Formerly a mother and her
children squatted on the ground and ate from a single bowl, or
dish, with their hands, and the cost of a meal for the whole
family was relatively a trifling matter. Mother, father, and
children wore native dress, the cost of which was usually well
within the reach of most families. When the boys went to
the Government Schools they found it convenient to adopt
European dress, and as a matter of course the native garments
were discarded. In a very few years youths and young men
were seen wearing European suits, boots with spring sides,
collars, cuffs, neckties, &c., and they began to frequent the
restaurants, and to eat European dishes and to drink Western
drinks. This change in their mode of life entailed a con-
siderable increase in the cost of living, and the difficulty of
finding the money necessary to support it began to cause
serious embarrassment to their parents, and made them dislike
Western manners and customs. This serious change is, the
writer thinks, one of the chief causes of the unrest which
undoubtedly exists in all the large towns of Egypt.
x
3 22
CHAPTER XIX.
Sketch of the History of the Arabs, and of Muhammad
and his Kur’an, Religious Beliefs, etc.
The home of the Arabs is the peninsula of Arabia, which is

about 1,450 miles long and 700 wide ; the greater part of the
country is desert and mountain, and only in the south-west
portion of it are perennial streams found. The Arabs are
Semites, and the modern descendants of them trace their
origin to the Hebrews through Kahtan, who is identified with
Joktan, the son of Eber, and to Adnan, the direct descendant
of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. The kingdoms
of Yaman and Hijaz were founded by Yarab and Yorhom,
sons of KAhtan. The provinces of Saba and Hadhramaut
were ruled by princes of the tribe of Himyar, whose king-
doms lasted two or three thousand years. In the third century
before Christ a terrible calamity befel the Arabs, for the great
dam which Saba, the builder of Saba and Mareb, built to hold
up the rain water and mountain springs suddenly burst, and
the widespread ruin brought by the flood which was thus let
loose on the plains caused eight great Arab tribes to leave their
country. The water is said to have been held up to a height
of about 180 feet, and the people felt so sure of the security
of the dam that they built their houses upon it. In the second
century after Christ the Arabs migrated northwards and
established petty kingdoms at Palmyra* and Al = Hirah,t and
came at times into conflict with the Roman authorities in Syria
and with the Persian powers in eastern Mesopotamia. The
Arabs of Palmyra embraced Christianity in the time of
Constantine, but those of Al-Hirah did not accept it until after
a.d. 550; the Arabs of the desert, however, continued to be
for the most part idolaters. The rule of the Himyar princes
came to an end in the first half of the sixth century of our
era, when the king of Ethiopia overthrew a base usurper
called Dhu-Nuwas, who inflicted tortures of the worst descrip-
tion on the Christians, and who is said to have destroyed
20,000 of them ; the Ethiopian rule was of short duration, for
before the end of the century the Persians were masters of the
country. Strictly speaking, the Arabs, as a nation, have never
* The Arabs of Palmyra were descended from the tribe of Azd.
t The Arabs of Al-Hirah were descended from Kahtan.
MUHAMMAD THE PROPHET. 323
been conquered, and no ruler has ever been able to make his
all parts of their dominions.
authority effective in
In pre-Muhammadan times, which the Arabs call “ Jahiliyah,”
JUOJfeli-, i.e the “epoch of ignorance,” their religion was
the grossest idolatry, and the dominant phase of it was the

religion of Sabaism. They believed in One God, but
worshipped the stars, planets, and angels. They prayed three
times a day, and fasted three times a year ; they offered up
sacrifices, they went on a pilgrimage to a place near Harran,
and they held in great honour the temple at Mecca, and the
Pyramids of Egypt, believing these last to be the tombs of
Seth and of his sons Enoch and Sabi. Three great powers
worshipped by the whole nation were Lat, Al = Uzza, and
Manat the Kur’an (Koran) mentions five very ancient idols,
;
viz., Wadd, Sawa‘a, Yaghiith, Ya‘uk, and Nasra. The

first of these had the form of a man, the second that of a
woman, the third that of a lion, the fourth that of a horse,

and the fifth that of an eagle. Sabaism taught that the souls
of the wicked will be punished for 9,000 ages, but that after that
period they will obtain mercy. Many Arabs, however, believed
neither in the creation nor in the resurrection, and attributed all
things to the operations of nature. Magianism, of Persian
origin, found many followers in Arabia, but Judaism and
Christianity exerted a profound influence upon the religion
of the Arabs. The Arabs prided themselves upon their skill
in oratory and in making poetry, and in the arts of war, and they
made a boast of their hospitality; but they always had the char-
and vindictive, generous to friends,
acter of being fierce, cruel,
but implacable to foes, and addicted to robbery and rapine.
Muhammad, commonly known as the Prophet, was
born at Mecca on August 20th, a.d. 570 his mother was
;
called Aminah, and his father ‘Abd-Allah, and his ancestors were
men of high rank in the city of Mecca, many of them holding
offices in connection with the temple there. His parents were
poor, and Muhammad’s inheritance consisted of five camels,
a flock of goats, and a slave girl. He was suckled by Thuebah
and Halimah, and reared by his grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib,
and was instructed in the trade of merchant by his uncle
Abfl Talib. At the age of six his mother took him to Madinah,
but on the way home she died at the age of 12 (a.d. 582)
;
Abu Talib took him to Syria. At the age of 20 he visited

the Fair at Okas, three days to the east of Mecca, where he
x 2
;
3 24 MUHAMMAD THE PROPHET.
heard the great Arab poets declaim their compositions, and

met numbers of Christians and Jews. In 595 he began to
do business as a merchant on behalf of Khadijah, a wealthy
lady of the Koreish tribe, and his trafficking was successful
soon after his return from Syria this lady, who was about
40 years of age, determined to marry him, and the ceremony
was performed by Khadijah’s father, whom she had made
drunk for the purpose. By this marriage he had two sons and
four daughters. In 605 the great Ka‘abah was built, and
the lot fell upon Muhammad to build the famous Black
Stone into its eastern corner, where it may be kissed by ail
who visit it. When he arrived at the age of 40 he began to
formulate a system for the reform of the religion of the Arabs,
and he became convinced that he was destined by God to
carry out that reform. At times, however, he was very
despondent, and he often meditated suicide, from which
Khadijah dissuaded him. About this time he declared that
Gabriel appeared to him and entrusted to him the divine
mission of reforming the religion of the Arabs.
When Muhammad was 45 years old he had collected a
sufficiently large number of influential converts about him to pro-
voke great opposition and persecution in and about Mecca, and
in 615 his First Hijrah, or “ flight, ” to Abyssinia took place.
At this time Muhammad relaxed his exertions somewhat, for
he became doubtful about the value of his mission, and seemed
to be willing to tolerate the worship of idols. In December, 619,
his beloved wife Khadijah died, aged 70, and about a month
later Abu Talib, his uncle, also died, and in the midst of these
afflictions Muhammad had the vexation of seeing that his
converts were not increasing in number. In 620 he set out
to call Taif to repentance, bur he was expelled from the city :
a few weeks later he married a widow called Sawdah, and

betrothed himself to ‘Aishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr, a
child of six seven years of age.
or In the same year
Muhammad made converts at Madinah, a city which lies
about 250 miles to the north of Mecca, and on June 20th,
a. d. 622, the year on which the Arabs base their chronology,
the Second Hijrah, or “flight,” to Madinah took place. He
arrived in that city on June 28th, and at once began to
build a mosque on the spot where his camel Al-Kaswah had
knelt down. At the age of 53 he married ‘Aishah, aged 10,
and it is said that the bride carried her toys to her husband’s
house, and that at times he joined in her games. In 623
HIS FAMILY. 325
he ceased to pray towards Jerusalem, and ordered his

followers to pray towards the Ka‘abah at Mecca ; in this
year the battle of Badr was fought, in which he vanquished his
opponents in Mecca. In 624 his power and influence con-
tinued to grow, and he married Hafsah, the daughter of ‘Omar.
In 625 was fought the battle of Uhud, in which Muhammad
was wounded, and a number of powerful Jews were expelled
from Madinah.
In January, 626, he married Zenab, the daughter of
Khuzema, and a month later Umm-Salmah, the widow of
Abd-Salmah; in June he married Zenab bint=Jahsh, who was
divorced by her husband Zed, the adopted son of Muhammad,
and later in the year he married a seventh wife, called
Juwerya. In 627 Madinah was besieged, and the Beni-Kureba
were massacred, and Muhammad’s power and influence con-
tinued to increase ;
the people of Mecca then began to
come to terms with him. In 628 he despatched letters to
Heraclius, and to the king of Persia, and to the governors
of Yaman, Egypt, and Abyssinia, calling upon them to
acknowledge the divine mission of Muhammad. In the same
year he betrothed himself to Umm
= Habubah, and conquered
Khebar, where he married Safia, the bride of Kinana and the ;
Jews bribed a sorcerer to bewitch Muhammad by tying knots

of his hairs upon a palm branch, which was sunk in a well, and
he is said to have begun to waste away. But the Archangel
Gabriel revealed the matter to him, and when the branch had
been taken out of the well and the hairs untied he recovered
his health. Soon after this he went to Mecca and married
Memunah, and his power increased in the city; in 630 he
conquered the city and destroyed the idols, and was successful
in many raids which he made upon the tribes who had not
acknowledged his divine mission. At this time George the
Makawkas sent to him from Egypt two sisters, called Shinn
and Maryam (Mary) the latter Muhammad married, and she
;
bore him a son called Ibrahim, who, however, died in June or

July, 631. In this year many tribes sent envoys to Muhammad
tendering their submission, and among them were men who
represented the Christian Arabs ; the answer given to the latter
proves that Muhammad only tolerated the Christian religion,
and that he expected the children of Christians to be brought
up in the faith of Al-Islam. In 632 Muhammad ordered an
expedition against Syria, but he died early in the month of
June,
;
326 MUHAMMAD THE PROPHET.
In personal appearance he was of medium height, and

he had an upright carriage until his later years, when he
began to stoop, and he walked fast. He laughed often, and
had a ready wit and a good memory ; his manners were pleasing,
and he was exceedingly gracious to inferiors. Of learning he
had none, and he could neither read nor write. He was slow
and dignified of speech, and prudent in judgment. He was
not ashamed to mend his own clothes and shoes, and his
humility was so great that he would ride upon an ass. He ate
with his thumb and the first and second fingers, and he greatly
liked bread cooked with meat, dates dressed with milk and
butter, pumpkins, cucumbers, and undried dates ; onions and
garlic he abhorred. His garments were of different colours,
but he loved white, although he was very fond of striped stuffs ;
it is said that he once gave 17 camels for a single garment.
His hair was long, like his beard, but he clipped his moustache ;
he painted his eyelids with antimony, and greatly loved musk,
ambergris, and camphor burnt on sweet-smelling woods. His
life was simple, but his disposition was sensual, and his
polygamous inclinations sorely tried the convictions of his
followers. He was a staunch friend to his friends, and a bitter
foe to his enemies, whom he often treated with great cruelty
he had the reputation for sincerity, but at times he behaved
with cunning and meanness; his urbanity hid a determination
which few realized, and the sword was the real cause of the
conversion of the nations to his views. The religion which he
•
preached was, and is, intolerant and fanatical, and, although
it has made millions of men believe in one God, and renounce
the worship of idols, and abhor wine and strong drink, it has
set the seal of his approval upon the unbridled gratification
of sensual appetites, and has given polygamy and divorce a
religious status and wide-spread popularity.
Al = Kur’an* (the Koran, or Coran) is the name given to
the revelations or instructions which Muhammad declared
had been sent to him from God by the Archangel Gabriel.
During the lifetime of Muhammad these revelations were
written upon skins, shoulder-bones of camels and goats, palm
leaves, slices of stone, or anything which was convenient for
writing upon, and then committed to memory by every true
believer ; they thus took the place of the poetical compositions
which the Arabs had, from time immemorial, been accustomed
to learn by heart It is tolerably certain that copies of the
* The word means “ the reading,” or “what ought to be read,”
THE KUR’AN. 327
revelations were multiplied as soon as they were uttered by

the Prophet, and their number must have been considerable,
On the death of the Prophet, the Arabs of the south revolted,
and Abft-Bakr was obliged to suppress the rebellion with a
strong hand, but the false prophet Musailima had many
adherents, and the fight was fierce and bloody, and many of
those who best knew the Kur’an were slain. At this time the
various sections of the book were not arranged in any order,
and ‘Omar, fearing that certain sections might be lost, advised
Abu-Bakr to have all the revelations gathered together into one
book. This was a.d. 633. By Abu-Bakr’s orders, a young
man Zed ibn-Thabit, who had been Muhammad's
called
secretary and had learned Syriac and Hebrew, was entrusted
with the task, and he collected the sections from every con-
ceivable source, and made a fair copy of them in the order in
which they have come down to us. This copy was given by
‘Omar, the successor of Abfi-Bakr, to his daughter Hafsah, one
of the widows of the Prophet. Before long, however, varia-
tions sprang up in the copies which were made from that of
Hafsah, and these variations became so numerous, and caused
such serious disputes, that the Khalif ‘Othman ordered Zed
ibn-Thabit and three men of the Koreish tribe to prepare a
new recension of the Kur’an. At length the new recension
was finished, and copies were sent to Kufah, Basrah, Damascus,
Mecca, and Madinah, and all the pre-existing versions were
ruthlessly burnt. Hafsah’s copy was restored to her, but it was
afterwards destroyed by Merwan, the governor of Madinah. The
Arabs regard the language of the Kur’an as extremely pure,
and incomparable for beauty and eloquence ; it is also thought
to be under God’s special protection, and therefore to be in-
corruptible. To explain the existence of slight variations, it was
declared that the book was revealed in seven distinct dialects.
The Kur’an contains 114 sections, each of which is called a
surah ; some were revealed at Mecca, and others at Madinah,
and others were revealed partly at Mecca and partly at
Madinah. The number of verses in the whole book is given
as 6,000, or 6,214, or 6,219, or 6,225, or 6,226, or 6,236,
according to the authority followed ; the number of words is
said to be 77,639 or 99,464 ; and the number of letters
323,015 or 330,113, for, like the Jews,* the Arabs counted
* The number of times which each letter occurs in the Hebrew Bible
will be found in the Massoreth ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita (ed. Ginsburg),
p. 271/:
328 THE TABLET OF DESTINY.
the letters of their Scriptures. At the head of each section,

after the title, come the words, “ In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate,” which formula, Sale thinks, was
borrowed from the Magians. That Muhammad, assisted by
his friends, composed the Kur’an is certain, yet his followers
declare that the first transcript of it existed in heaven, written
upon the Mother of the Book, also called the Preserved
Table or Tablet from all eternity, and that it subsists in the
very essence of God. A copy on paper was sent down to the
lowest heaven by Gabriel, who revealed it to the Prophet
piecemeal, but showed him the whole book, bound in silk and
set with the gold and precious stones of Paradise, once a year.
Hence the Kur’an is held in the greatest reverence by the
Muhammadans, who are said never to touch it unless they are
ceremonially pure.
The Muhammadans divide their religion, which they call
“ Islam,” into two parts, i.e., Imam faith, or theory, and
,
Dm religion, or practice ; it is built on five fundamental

,
points, one belonging to faith and four to practice. The

confession of faith is, “ There is no god but God,” and
“ Muhammad is the Apostle of God.” Under the division of
—
Faith the Arabs comprehend: (i) Belief in God; (2) in
his Angels; (3) in His Scriptures ; (4) in His Prophets ; (5) in
the Resurrection and Day of Judgment ; (6) in God’s absolute
decree and predetermination both of good and evil. The four
points of Practice are :
—
(1) Prayer and ablutions ; (2) alms ;
(3) fasting ; (4) pilgrimage to Mecca.
1. The belief in God is thus expressed: “Say, God is
one God ; the eternal God ; he begetteth not, neither is
he begotten ; and there is not any one like unto him ”
[Surah cxii).
2. The Angels are beings of light who neither eat nor
drink, and who are without sex ;
sin, and
they are without
perform God’s behests in heaven and upon earth, and adore
Him. There are four Archangels, Gabriel, Michael, Azrael,
the angel of death, and Israfel, the angel who will sound the
trumpet at the end of the world. Every believer is attended
by two angels, one writing down his good actions and the
other his evil actions ;
the guardian angels are variously said
to be 5, 60, or 160. The angels Munkarand Nakir examine
the dead, and torture the wicked in their graves. The Jinn
were created before Adam, and are beings of fire, who eat
and drink and marry ; they include Jann, Satans, ‘Afrits, and
MUHAMMADAN BELIEFS. 329
Marids. The head of them is ‘Azazel or Iblis, who was cast

out of heaven because he refused to worship Adam.
3. The Scriptures are the uncreated word of God which
He revealed to His Prophets ; of these alone remain, but in a
corrupt state, the Pentateuch of Moses, the Psalms of David,
the Gospels of Christ, and the Kur’an, which surpasses in
excellence all other revelations. Ten books were given to
Adam, 50 to Seth, 30 to Enoch, and 10 to Abraham, but all
these are lost.
4. The Prophets are in number 124,000 or 224,000, of
whom 313 were Apostles; among the Apostles of special
importance are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ,
and Muhammad, who is declared to be the last, and greatest,
and most excellent of them all. It is admitted that Christ is
the Word of God, and the Messiah, but the Muhammadans
deny that He is the Son of God.
5. Resurrection and Day of Judgment. When the body
is laid in the grave two angels, called Munkar and Nakir,
appear there, and make the dead man sit upright, and question
him as to his faith if the answers are satisfactory he is
;
allowed to rest in peace, but if not the angels beat him on the
temples with iron maces, and having heaped earth upon the
body, it is gnawed by 99 dragons, each having seven heads.
All good Muhammadans have their graves made hollow and
two stones placed in a suitable position for the two angels to
sit upon. The souls of the just when taken from their bodies
by the angel of death may be borne to heaven, but various
opinions exist on this point. Some think that the souls
remain near the graves either for seven days or for a longer
period ;
others think they exist with Adam in the lowest
heaven others that they live in the trumpet which is to wake
;
the dead and others that they dwell in the forms of white
;
birds under the throne of God. The souls of the wicked,

having been rejected bv heaven and by this earth, are taken
down to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon under
a green rock, or under the Devil's jaw, where they will be
tortured until called upon to rejoin their bodies. Muham-
madans generally believe in the resurrection both of the body
and of the soul. All parts of the bodies of the dead will
decay except the cuckoo bone (coccyx), wherefrom the whole
body shall be renewed, and this renewal shall take place
through a rain of 40 days, which shall cover the earth to a
depth of 12 cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout like plants.
33o THE GENERAL RESURRECTION,
The time when the resurrection is to take place is known only

to God. The first blast of the trumpet will shake heaven and
earth ;
the second will cause all living creatures to die, the last
being the angel of death ; and the third, which is to take place
40 years after the second, will raise the dead, Muhammad being
the first to rise. The general resurrection will include
animals. Some say the day of judgment will last 1,000 years,
and others 50,000; the place of judgment will be the earth,
and Muhammad is to be the intercessor with God on behalf
of man. A book wherein is written an account of his actions
will be given to each man, and all things will be weighed
in a balance; the judgment over, the souls of the good
will turn to a road on the right, and those of the bad to a
road on the left. All will, however, have to pass over the
bridge As-Sirat, which is laid over the midst of hell, and is finer
than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword ; the good will
have no difficulty in passing over this, but the wicked will fall
from it and meet their doom in Gehenna, which is divided into
seven storeys, one below the other. Between hell and paradise
is a partition or gulf, which is not, however, so wide that the
blessed and the damned cannot discourse together.

The blessed will drink out of a lake, the water of which
comes from Paradise, and is whiter than milk, and sweeter in
smell than musk. Paradise was created before the world, and
is situated above the seven heavens, near the throne of God ;
ts earth is made of fine wheat flour, or musk, or saffron ; its

stones are pearls its walls are inlaid with gold and silver and
; ;
the trunks of all its trees are of gold. Therein is the Tubah
tree, laden with every kind of fruit, and it will supply the true
believer with everything he needs, i.e., meat, drink, raiment,
horses to ride, etc. The rivers flow with milk, wine, and
honey, and the fountains are innumerable. The women of
Paradise, the Hur al-‘uyun (z\e., women with large eyes, the
pupils of which are very dark, or black, and the whites of
which are very white and clear), who will be given to the
believers, are made of pure musk, and are free from all the
defects of earthly women ;
they live in hollow pearls, which are
60 miles long, and 60 miles wide. The beings in Paradise
will never grow old, and they will always remain in the prime
and vigour of a man 30 years of age ; when they enter Paradise
they will be of the same stature as Adam, i.e., 60 cubits, or
no feet high. Women who have lived good lives upon earth
will live in Paradise in an abode specially set apart for them.
— ;
PREDESTINATION, PRAYER. 331
6. Predestination. —God's decree, whether concerning

evilor good, is absolute ; and whatever hath come or will
come to pass hath been irrevocably fixed from all eternity. A
man’s fate cannot, either by wisdom or foresight, be avoided.
Concerning the four points of practice :
1. Prayer and ablutions. — Prayer is the prop of religion

and the key of Paradise, and the pious Muhammadan prays
at least five times a day
:
—
(1) Between daybreak and sunrise;
(2) in the early afternoon ; (3) in the afternoon before sunset
(4) in the evening after sunset ; and (5) before the first watch
of the night. Notice is given from the mosques of the times
of prayer daily, because the day begins with sunset, the time
of which changes daily, and every believer is expected to
prepare for prayer as soon as he hears the voice of the crier
from the mosque. The prayers recited are those ordained by
God and those ordained by the Prophet some are said sitting,
;
some standing upright, and some with the head bent. Before
praying a man must wash his hands, mouth, nostrils, face, and
arms, each three times, and then the upper pait of the head,
the beard, ears, neck, and feet, each once. Muhammad is
said to have declared that “the practice of religion is founded
on cleanliness," which is one half of the faith and the key of
prayer, without which it will not be heard by God ; and also
that “ there could be no good in that religion wherein was no
prayer." When praying the Muhammadans turn the face
towards the temple at Mecca, and in mosques and public inns
the direction of that city is always indicated by a niche which
is called Kiblah or Mihrab, and all prayer is held to be in vain
unless it be said with a humble, penitent, and sincere heart.

Muhammadans never pray clad in fine clothes, nor do they
pray in public with women.
The Muhammadan, having turned his face towards Mecca,
stands with his feet not quite close together, and, raising his
open hands on each side of his face, he touches the lobes of
his ears with the ends of his thumbs and says the takbir, i.e .,
“ Allahu Akbar," “ God is most Great." He next proceeds to
recite the appointed prayers. Standing, he places his hands
before him a little below the girdle, the left within the right,
and, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground where his head will
touch it vhen he kneels, he recites the opening chapter of the
Kur'an, and after it three or more verses, or some short
chapter. He next says, “ God is most Great," and makes at
the same time an inclination of his head and body, placing hi$
33 2 MUHAMMADAN PRAYERS.
hands upon his knees,and separating his fingers a little. In

this position he “[I extol] the perfection of my Lord the
says,
Great,” three times, and adds, “ May God hear him who
praiseth Him !Our Lord, praise be unto Thee.” He then
raises his head and repeats, “ God is most Great.” Dropping
upon his hands he says, “ God is most Great,” and, placing his
hands upon the ground, a little before his knees, he puts his
nose and forehead also to the ground, between his two hands.
During his prostration he says, “ [I extol] the perfection of my
Lord the Most High,” three times. He then raises his head
and body, sinks backwards upon his heels, and places his
hands upon his thighs, saying, at the same time, “ God is most
Great,” which words he repeats as he bends his head a second
time to the ground. During the second prostration he repeats
the same words as in the first, and in raising his head again, he
”
utters the takbir as before. Thus the prayers of one “ bowing
are ended.
He who prays must take care not to move the toes of his
fight foot from the spot where he first placed them, and the
left foot must be moved as little as possible. For the next
“bowing” he rises on his feet, still keeping the toes of his
right foot on the same spot, and repeats the same words,
but after the opening chapter of the Kur’an he must recite a
different chapter. After every second “bowing,” and after
the last, still kneeling, he bends his left foot under him and
sits upon it, and places his hands upon his thighs, with the
fingers a little apart. He then says, “ Praises are to God, and
prayers, and good works. Peace be on thee, O Prophet, and
the mercy of God, and His blessings. Peace be on us, and
on [all] the righteous worshippers of God.” Then raising
the first finger of the right hand he adds, “ I testify that there
is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is His
servant and Apostle.” After the last “bowing ” the worshipper,
looking upon his right shoulder, says, “ Peace be on you, and
the mercy of God/’ and looking upon the left he says the same
words. Before these salutations the worshipper may offer up
any short petition, and as he does so he looks at the palms of
his two hands, which he holds like an open book before him,
and then draws over his face, from the forehead downwards.
He who would acquire special merit remains seated, and
repeats the following beautiful section of the second chapter
(verse 256) of the Kur’an :
—
“God! There is no god but
He, the Living One, the Self-existing One. Neither slumber
THE TREE OF PARADISE. 333
nor sleep seizeth Him. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in

heaven and upon earth. Who is he that can intercede with
Him, except through His good pleasure? He knoweth that
which hath been, and that which is to come unto them,
and they shall not comprehend anything of His knowledge,
except in so far as He pleaseth. His throne is extended over
the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both is no
burden unto him. He is the High, the Mighty.” After this
he says, “ O High, O Mighty, Thy perfection [I extol].” He
then repeats the words, u the perfection of God,” 33 times,
and says, “ The perfection of God the Great, with His praise
for ever,” once ; he then repeats “ Praise be to God,” 33 times,
and says “ Extolled be His dignity ; there is no god but He”
once ; he then repeats (< God is most Great,” 33 times, and
says “ God is most Great in greatness, and praise be to God in
abundance,” once. The worshipper counts these repetitions
by means of a string of beads, 99 in number.
The prayer which is said on the night preceding the fifteenth
day of Sha‘ban, the eighth month, is one of considerable
interest, and the occasion for it is one of great importance to
all Muhammadans, and is observed with great solemnity. The
Muslims believe that in one portion of Paradise there grows a
tree which bears as many leaves as there are people in the
world, and that on each leaf is the name of a human being.
On the night of the 15th of Sha ban this tree is shaken by
c
some means just after sunset, and the leaves whereon are the
names of those who are to die in the ensuing year fall to the
ground. The prayer, usually recited after the XXXV Ith
Chapter of the Kur’an, which treats of the Resurrections, in Mr.
Lane’s translation is as follows :
—
“ O God, O Thou Gracious,
and Who art not an object of grace, O Thou Lord of Dignity
and Honour, and of Beneficence and Favour, there is no deity
but Thou, the Support of those who seek to Thee for refuge, and
the Helper of those who have recourse to Thee for help, and
the Trust of those who fear. O God, if Thou have recorded me
in Thy abode, upon the Mother of the Book,* miserable, or
unfortunate, or scanted in my sustenance, cancel, O God, of
Thy goodness, my misery, and misfortune, and scanty allow-
ance of sustenance, and confirm me in Thy abode, upon the
* /.<?., the Preserved Tablet in Heaven, on which are recorded all
God’s decrees, the destinies of all men, and the original copy of the
Kur’an; but some think that the “Mother of the Book” means the
knowledge of God.
334 MUHAMMADAN PRAYERS.
Mother of the Book, as happy, and provided for, and directed

togood for Thou hast said (and Thy saying is true) in Thy
:
Book revealed by the tongue of Thy commissioned Prophet,

‘God cancel what He pleaseth, and confirm; and with
will
Him isthe Mother of the Book/ O
my God, by the very
great revelation [which is made] on the night of the middle of
the month of Shaaban the honoured, in which every deter-
mined decree is dispensed and confirmed, remove from me
whatever affliction I know, and what I know not, and what
Thou best knowest ; for Thou art the most Mighty, the most
Bountiful. And bless, O God, our lord Mohammad, the
Illiterate Prophet, and his Family and Companions, and save
them.”
The worshippers who go to say their midday prayers in the
mosque on Friday arrange themselves in rows parallel to that
side of the mosque in which is the niche, and face that side.
Each man washes himself before he enters the mosque, and
before he goes in he takes off his shoes and carries them in
his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first over
the threshold. Having taken his place he performs two
“ bowings,” and remains sitting. The reader recites the
XVIIIth Chapter of the Kur’an until the call to prayer is
heard, when he stops; after the call to prayer is ended the
men stand up and perform two “ bowings.” A servant of the
mosque, the Murakki, then opens the folding doors at the foot
of the pulpit stairs, and taking out a straight wooden sword,
stands a little to the right of the doorway, with his right side
towards the kiblah, and, holding the sword with his right hand
wilh its point on the ground, says, “Verily God and His
angels bless the Prophet. O ye who believe, bless him, and
greet him with a salutation.” Then one or more persons who
stand on the platform opposite the niche say words similar to
the following :
—
“ O God, bless and save and beatify the most
noble of the Arabs and Persians, the Imam of Mecca and
Al-Medinah and the Temple, to whom the spider showed favour,
and wove its web in the cave and whom the lizard saluted,
;
and before whom the moon was cloven in twain, our lord
Mohammad, and his Family and Companions.” The Murakki
then recites the call to prayer, followed by those on the
platform, and before this is ended the Imam, or the preacher,
comes to the foot of the pulpit, takes the wooden sword from
the Murakki’s hand, ascends the pulpit, and sits on the top
step of the platform. The Murakki then recites some
ALMSGIVING AND FASTING. 335
traditional words of the Prophet, and having said to the

congregation, “ Be ye silent: ye shall be rewarded: God
shall recompense you,” sits down. The preacher (Khatib)
now rises, and holding the wooden sword (this is only done
in countries which the Arabs have conquered by the sword),
delivers his sermon, at the end of which he says, “ Pray ye to
God,” and then sits down, when he and the whole congregation
engage in private prayer. After this the men on the platform
say, “Amen, Amen, O Lord of the beings of the whole world.”
When this is done the preacher preaches a second sermon,
wherein, if necessary, petitions are offered up for an abundant
inundation of the Nile, for rain, for success in battle, for a
speedy and safe journey to Mecca when the pilgrimage is at
hand, etc. In these days it is perhaps hardly necessary to
point out that the Muhammadans never pray to Muhammad
the Prophet, but to God, and God only
2. Almsgiving. —
Alms are of two kinds, obligatory and
voluntary, and they are regarded as of great assistance in
causing God to hear prayer ; it has been said by one of the
Khalifahs that “ prayer carries us half-way to God, fasting brings
us to the door of his palace, and alms procure us admission.”
Alms are to be given of cattle, money, corn, fruits, and
merchandize sold, and one-fortieth part must be given either in
money or kind of everything received.
3. Fasting. —
The three degrees of fasting are: (1) The —
restraining of the lusts of the body ; (2) the restraining of the
members of the body from sin ; and (3) the fasting of the
heart from worldly cares, and compelling the mind to dwell
upon God. The Muhammadan must abstain from eating and
drinking, and any physical indulgence, every day during the
month of Ramadan from dawn until sunset, unless physically
incapacitated it is said that this month was chosen as the
;
month for fasting because in it the Kur’an was sent down from
heaven. Strict Muhammadans suffer nothing to enter their
mouths during the day, and regard the fast as broken if a man
smells perfumes, or bathes, or swallows his spittle, or kisses or
touches a woman, or smokes ; at and after sunset they eat and
drink as they please.
4. The Pilgrimage to Mecca. —
Every Muhammadan
must undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life,
for Muhammad is said to have declared that he who does not do
so may as well die a Jew or a Christian. The object of the
pilgrimage is to visit the Ka‘abah, i.e., the “ square [building],”
;
336 PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA.
and perform certain ceremonies there. This building is rect-

angular, and the famous Black Stone, * set in silver, is built
into its south-eastern corner ;
the stone measures 6 inches by 8,
and is of a reddish-black colour. have fallen from
It is said to
Paradise to earth with Adam, and to have been miraculously
preserved during the deluge, and given to Abraham by Gabriel
when he built the Ka‘abah. When a pilgrim has arrived near
Mecca he removes his ordinary clothes and puts on a woollen
tunic about his loins, and a woollen shawl about his shoulders,
and very loose slippers. He then goes round the Ka‘abah
seven times, and each time he passes he must either kiss the
Black Stone or touch it ; he must next pass seven times
between the low hills Safa and Merwa, partly running and partly
walking, in memory of Hagar’s hurried steps as she wandered up
and down seeking water for Ishmael ; he must next go to Mount
‘Arafat, near Mecca, and pray there and listen to a discourse
until sunset ; and the day following he must go to the valley
of Mina and cast seven stones at certain marks. This last act
is the “stoning of the Devil,” and is done in imitation of
Abraham, who cast stones at the great Enemy because he

tempted or disturbed him when praying while preparing to
offer up his son Isaac. When the stoning is done the pilgrims
slay animals in the valley of Mina, and make a great feast, and
give gifts to the poor, and when they have shaved their heads
and pared their nails the pilgrimage is considered to have been
performed. The various ceremonies of the pilgrimage described
above are extremely ancient, and are admitted by the Muham-
madans to be the product of the “ time of ignorance ” at one
epoch each had a special signification, which may or may not
have been understood by the Prophet. He, though wishing
to do so, had no power to abolish them, but he certainly
succeeded in depriving them of meaning, and now these rites
have no signification whatever.
The Kur’an prohibits the drinking of wine and all intoxi-
cating liquors in these words :
—
“ O true believers, surely wine,
and lots, and images, and divining arrows are an abomination
of the work of Satan ; therefore avoid ye them, that ye may
prosper ” ; and again, “ They will ask thee concerning wine
and lots Answer, in both there is great sin, and also some
:
things of use unto men ; but their sinfulness is greater than

their use.” Strict Muhammadans abjure the use of opium
* A view of this stone is given in Sir William Muir’s Life of Mahomet ,
p. 2 7.
;
POLYGAMY AND DIVORCE. 337
and hashish, or Indian hemp cannabis Indica ), which when

(<
taken in excess practically makes a man mad, and they are

bidden to avoid all gaming and gambling, and divination and
magic. Tobacco is used freely everywhere, and of course
coffee, but many learned Muhammadans have doubted the
legality of the use of either of these. When not corrupted by
intercourse with Western peoples, the Muhammadans are
probably the most abstemious people in the East. The duties
of a man to his neighbour are laid down at length by Muham-
madan teachers, and in great detail, and we may see from the
Kur an that the observance of most of the virtues beloved by
Western nations is also strictly inculcated by them. In the
matter of Polygamy and Divorce, however, their morality is
exceedingly lax, and there is no doubt that the domestic habits
of the Arab nations have seriously hampered their progress
among the peoples of the earth. Muhammad said, “ If ye fear
that ye shall not act with equity towards orphans [of the female
sex], take in marriage of such [other] women as please you,
two, or three, or four ” {Surah iv ) but the example which he
himself set was an unfortunate one, and has been the cause of
much misery to the Arabs. Among poor folk want of means is
the great deterrent to polygamy, and many men, therefore,
marry only one wife ; but the laws relating to divorce are so
loose, that a man with money can generally find or buy an
excuse for getting rid of his wife and for taking a new one.
The children of concubines or slaves are held to be legitimate,
and the Prophet did a good deed when he put a stop to
the inhuman custom among the pagan Arabs of burying
their daughters alive. It is said that the girl who was
intended to die was allowed to live until she was six years
old, when she was perfumed and dressed in fine raiment,
and taken to a pit dug for the purpose; the father then
stood behind her, and pushed her in, and had the pit filled
up at once. The punishment for Murder is death, but it
may, if all parties concerned agree, be compounded by the
payment of money, and by the freeing of a Muhammadan
from captivity. Manslaughter may be compounded by a
fine and by the freeing of a Muhammadan from captivity.
Theft, if the object stolen be worth more than £2, is
—
punished by the loss of a member for the first offence, the
right hand ; for the second, the left foot ; for the third, the
left hand; for the fourth, the right foot. In recent years
beating and hard labour have taken the place of the punish-
Y
—
338 MUHAMMADAN FESTIVALS.
ment of mutilation. Adultery is punished by death by

stoning if charge against the woman be established by four
eye-witnesses ; the extreme penalty of the law is, naturally,
carried out but rarely. Drunkenness is punished by flogging.
Blasphemy of God, or Christ, or Muhammad, is ordered to
be punished by death ; the same punishment has been inflicted >
upon women for Apostasy.

The Festivals of the Muhammadans are thus classified by
Mr. Lane (op. cit ., vol. II, p. 145, ff )
.
:
1. To the first ten days of the month Muharram, which

is the first month of the Muhammadan year, special importance
is attached, and great rejoicing takes place in them but of all

;
days the tenth is the most honoured. Water which has been
blessed is sold freely as a charm against the evil eye, and the
Jinn are supposed to visit men and women by night during
this period of ten days. On the tenth day of Muharram the
meeting between Adamand Eve took place after they had been
cast out of Paradise; on this day Noah left the ark, and the
Prophet’s grandson, Al-IJusen, was slain at the battle of
Kerbela. The pagan Arabs fasted on this day, and many
Muhammadans follow their example, and it is unlucky to make
a marriage contract in this month.
2. About the end of the second month (Safar) the return of
the Mecca Caravan is celebrated. When the main body of
the Caravan is yet some days’ journey distant, two Arabs,
mounted on swift dromedaries, hurry on to the Citadel at Cairo
to announce the day of its arrival. Many pious people go as
much as a three days’ journey to meet the Caravan, and carry
with them gifts of raiment and food for the pilgrims, and
donkeys on which certain of them may ride. When the
Caravan arrives it is greeted with shouts of joy and music in
honour of those who have returned, and weeping and wailing
for those who have left their bones on the way. It is con-
sidered a most meritorious thing for a man or woman to die
when making the “ Hagg ” * or Pilgrimage to Mecca, and
many sick folk make arrangements to set out on the road to
Mecca, full well knowing that they will die on the road. Some
years ago, when the Indian pilgrims, who sailed from Bombay,
were not so well looked after as they are now, the number of
those who
died on the ships and were buried at sea was con-
siderable. The pilgrims bring back, as gifts for their friends,
holy water from the Sacred Well of Zamzam, from which
* Thus pronounced in Egypt.
! ;
BIRTHDAY OF THE PROPHET. 339
Hagar gave Ishmael water to drink, pieces of the covering of

the Ka‘abah, which is renewed yearly, cakes of dust from the
Prophet’s tomb, frankincense, palm fibres for washing the body,
combs and rosaries of the wood of aloes, tooth sticks and eye
paint. A prominent object in the Caravan is the Mahmil, to
which great reverence is paid. It is a square framework of
wood with a pyramidal top ; on the top, and at each corner, is
a silver-gilt ball with a crescent. The framework is covered
with black brocade, richly marked in gold, and ornamented
with tassels ; there is nothing inside the Mahmil, but two copies
of the Kur’an, one on a scroll and one in book form, are
attached to the outside of it. When the Mahmil reaches the
Citadel it is saluted with 12 guns.
3. At the beginning of Rabi’ al-awwal (the third month) the
Mulid an-Nebi, or Birthday of the Prophet, is commemo-
rated. 'The rejoicings begin on the third day of the month, and
for nine days and nine nights the people indulge in singing and
dancing and festivities of every kind, the streets are illuminated
by night, and processions of Dervishes go about through the
streets by day and by night. Mr. Lane once heard the sweet-
meat sellers crying out when this festival was being celebrated,
“A grain of salt in the eye of him who doth not bless the
Prophet,” probably a warning to Jews and Christians to keep
away. He was also fortunate enough to see the Shekh of the
Sa’diyah Dervishes ride over the bodies of a large number of
them. Some 60 of these lay down upon the ground side by
side as closely as possible,- their backs being upwards, their
legs extended, and their arms placed beneath their foreheads.
None of the men were hurt, a fact which they attributed to
the prayers which they had said the day before. This ceremony
is called Dosah, and during its performance those trodden
upon continued to utter the name “ Allah,” or God.

4. In the fourth month, Rabi’ al-tani, 15 days and 14 nights
are spent in celebrating the festival of the Mulid al = Hasanen,
or the birthday of Al-Husen, whose head is buried in the
Mosque of the Hasanen.
5. In the middle of the seventh month, Regeb, the birthday
of Zenab, the granddaughter of the Prophet, is celebrated
and on the 27th of the month the festival of the ascension of
the Prophet is celebrated. He is said to have been carried
from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to heaven, and,
having held converse with God, to have returned to Mecca in
one night
y 2
340 RAMADAN.
6. On the first or second Wednesday of the eighth month,

Shaaban, the birthday of Imam Shafei is celebrated, and
the cemetery called the Karafah becomes the scene of great
festivities.Above the dome of the mosque of the Imam a
metal boat is placed, and it is said to turn about even in the
absence of wind, and according to the direction in which it
turns good or evil is foretold. The eve of the fifteenth day
of this month is held in great reverence, because the fate of
every man during the year ensuing is decided. The lote tree of
Paradise contains as many leaves as there are human beings in
the world, and on each leaf is written the name of a man
or woman ; shortly after sunset this tree is shaken, when
numbers of its leaves fall, and those whose names are written
on the fallen leaves will die in the ensuing year. Pious
Muhammadans pass this night in solemn prayer.
The ninth month, Ramadan, is observed as a month of
fasting ; when this month falls in the summer-time, Muham-
madans suffer greatly from both hunger and thirst. Mr. Lane
calculates that the time during which the daily fast is kept
varies from 12 hours 5 minutes to 16 hours 14 minutes. The
effect of the fast upon the country is, practically, to turn night
into day, for nearly all the shops are kept open at night, and
the streets are thronged, and the stranger sometimes finds
it difficult to believe that the fasting is as rigorous as it
undoubtedly is. The 27th night of the month is called the
Lelat al-Kadr, or “ Night of Power,” and is held to be
“ better than a thousand months, % for in it the Kur’an is said
to have been sent down to Muhammad. On this night the
angels bring blessings to the faithful, and as the gates of
heaven are then open, it is believed that prayer will certainly
find admission. Salt water is said to become sweet during that
night, and some people keep a vessel of salt water before them
and taste it evening after evening, that when it becomes sweet
they may be certain that they are observing the Night of Power.
On the first three days of the tenth month, Shawwal, the
Lesser Festival, or Ramadan Bairam, is kept with great
rejoicing ;
it marks the end of the fast of Ramadan. When
friends meet in the street they embrace and kiss each other,
and the women visit the graves of their relatives arid lay
broken palm-branches and sweet basil upon them ; during this
festival many put on new clothes, and presents of every kind
are given and received by members of all classes.
A few days later the Kiswah, or Covering of the Ka‘abah,
THE KISWAH. 341
followed by the Mahmil, is conveyed from the Citadel, where

it is manufactured at the Sultan’s expense, to the Mosque of
the Hasanen, and the occasion is looked upon by everyone as
a festival. The Kiswah is of black brocade covered with
inscriptions, and having a broad band at the edge of each side
ornamented with inscriptions worked in gold ; the covering
and its band are each woven in four pieces, which are after-
wards sewn together. The Veil which covers the door of the
Ka‘abah is made of richly worked black brocade, and is lined
with green silk, while the Kiswah is only lined with cotton.
A Covering and a Veil are taken to the Ka‘abah yearly by the
great Mecca Caravan, and the old ones, which have become
spoiled by rain and dust, are cut up in pieces and sold to the
pilgrims. On the 23rd of the month Shawwal the procession
of the officers and the escort of the Mecca Caravan pass from
the Citadel through the streets of the metropolis to a plain to
the north of the city called Haswah (i.e., pebbly) ; on the 25th
it proceeds to the Birket al-Hagg, or Pilgrim Lake, about
1 1 miles from the city, and on the 27th the Caravan starts for
Mecca. The journey to Mecca occupies usually about 37 days,

but those who like to travel leisurely take longer ; this city is
about 45 miles from the sea coast, and is almost due east from
Jiddah on the Red Sea.
On the 10th of the month Dhul-higgah, i.e., the month of the
Pilgrimage and the last of the Muhammadan year, the Great
Festival (Kurban Bairam) begins ; it is observed in much
ihe same way as the Little Festival, and lasts three or four days.
—
Muhammadan sects. The Muhammadans of Egypt and
of many other parts of the Turkish Empire may be described
as orthodox (Sunnites), for they base their public and private
life upon the leaching of Muhammad, and upon the traditions
handed down by his early disciples, and upon the decisions

which they promulgated. Among these, however, there are
four chief sects, the Hanafites, the Shafe‘ites, the Male-
kites, and the Ham halites, which, though agreeing as regards
fundamentals of faith, differ in matters of detail. Speaking
generally, the Hanafites may be said to follow their own opinions
in many matters of faith instead of those of the Prophet, while
the other three sects follow the traditions of Muhammad. The
founders of the sects were Abu Hanifah, born at Kufah, a.h. 80;
Shafe‘i, born at Gaza or Askelon, a.h. 150; Malek, born at
Madinah about a.h. 94 and Hambal, born either at Merv or
;
Baghdad. The heterodox among the Arabs are called

;
342 MUHAMMADAN SECTS.
ShPites, and are regarded with detestation by the Sunnites,

or traditionalists, declare that they may just as well not be
who
Muhammadans at because they are doomed to eternal
all,
punishment. Among the heterodox some rejected all eternal

attributes of God ; others disputed about the essence of God ;
others declared that God could not have made unbelievers ;
others held that there were two Gods, the one, the most high
God, being eternal, and the other, Christ, being non-eternal
others denied everlasting punishment ; others said that God
could be a liar ; others denied the absoluteness of predestina-
tion, and endowed men with free-will ; others distinguished
the attributes of God from His essence ; others taught
anthropomorphism pure and simple, and ascribed to God
a material body ; and, within a comparatively short time after
the death of the Prophet, Sufism, or the doctrine of Divine
love, with which were mingled mysticism and asceticism, attained
great influence over the minds of the Persian Muhammadans,
who are chiefly ShPites, and its followers became a very large sect.
—
The Mahdi. From what has been said above it will be
evident to the reader that the Arabs were always divided into
sects which disputed among themselves about questions of
religion, especially about those which savoured of mysticism
and dogma. When the Arabs embraced the doctrines of
Muhammad the Prophet, they carried into their new religion
many ideas, and beliefs, and customs, which even that
masterful man was unable to set aside. Muhammad the
“ illiterate,” as his followers love to call
him, permitted them
to believe whatever did not interfere with the supremacy of
his own views, and he himself borrowed most of his doctrines
and mythology from the Jews and Christians and Persians.
In Judaism and Zoroastrianism there was a common idea that
the world had fallen into an evil condition, that religion had
been corrupted, that all men were exceedingly wicked, and that
only a supernatural being, who was to come at the end of time,
could put all things right; this being the Jews called the
Messiah, and the Persians Sushyant ; the Jews said he was
to be the son of David, and the Persians said he was to be the
son of Zoroaster. Muhammad the Prophet admitted that
Jesus Christ was a prophet, and declared Him to be the
greatest of the prophets of the old dispensation but regarded
;
Him as inferior to the line of prophets of which he himself was

the first, and said He would only be the servant, or vicar, of the
supernatural personage who was to come in the last days, and
BELIEF IN A MAHDI. 343
who was to right all things, namely, the Mahdi. The word
Mahdi means he who directed (or led) [by God], According
is
to Muhammad, Jesus was sent to destroy Antichrist and con-

vert Christians to the religion of Islam The Mahdi was to
!
be a descendant of the Prophet through ‘All, the cousin of

Muhammad, who had given him his daughter Fatima to wife.
When the Persians were conquered by the Arabs they
accepted the religion and doctrines of the Prophet, but they
adopted the view that his legitimate successor (Khalifah) was his
son-in-law ‘Ali, and that the first three khalifahs, Abu-Bakr, ‘Omar,
and ‘Othman were impostors, who had seized the Khalifate by
intrigue. Thus the Muhammadan world was, and still is, split
up into two great parties, the Sunnites, or “ traditionalists, 7’
who acknowledge the first three Khalifs, and the ShPites, or

Imamians, who reject them. ‘Alt was declared to be divine
by his adherents even during his lifetime, and when he and his
sons Hasan and Husen had been murdered by the ‘Omayyad
usurpers, his life and deeds appealed in a remarkable manner
to the imagination of the Persians, and, remembering that the
Prophet had declared that the Mahdi should spring from his
own family, they accepted and promulgated the view that he
was to be among the descendants of ‘All. There have been
many who assumed the title of “ Mahdi,” but the first of these
was “Muhammad, the son of the Hanafite,” i.e., the son of
‘Ali by another wife, and he was practically made to adopt it
by a cunning man called Mukhtar. Mahdi after Mahdi
appeared in the Muhammadan world, but when the eleventh
Imam had come to an end, that is to say, had been murdered
— the true Mahdi was to be the twelfth —
and left no successor,
men began to fall into despair. At the end of the eighth
century a schism among the ShFites took place, and a large,
wealthy body of men, who called themselves Ismaelites (from
Ismail, the son of Ja’far), left them the leader of the new sect
;
was a Persian dentist called ‘Obedallah, who sent messengers

to Arabia and the north of Africa to announce the advent of
the Mahdi, i.e., himself. ‘Obedallah, moreover, declared him-
self to be a descendant of ‘All, and with this prestige in 908
he succeeded in founding a dynasty in North Africa, having-
overthrown the reigning Aghlabite king there. He also
founded the city of Mahdiya. In 925 ‘Obedallah attempted
to overrun Egypt, but he was defeated, and it was not until
969 that the Fatimids succeeded in conquering Egypt, which
they did under Johar, the general of Mu‘izz, the great-grandson
344 MUHAMMAD AHMAD THE MAHDI.
of ‘Obedallah, who founded the city of Cairo and assumed the

title of Khalifah. Thus a Mahdi made himself master of nearly
all North Africa and of Egypt, and his dynasty ruled the last-
named country for well-nigh 200 years ( a d 97 2-1 17 2). .
.
The next great Mahdi was Muhammad ibn-Ttimurt, of the

tribe of MasmMah, and a native of Morocco, whose followers,
known by the name of “ Almohades,” conquered Spain and
ruled it during the twelfth century. The idea of the Mahdi still
lives in Northern Africa, and without taking into account the
Mahdi of the Sentisi, who always calls himself “ Muhammad
al-Mahdi,” it is said that at the present time another Mahdi is
waiting at Massa in Morocco to declare himself to the world.
In 1666 a Mahdi called Sabbatai Zevi made his appearance in
Turkey, but he disgraced himself by submitting to become a
servant of the Sultan Muhammad IV. Another appeared at
Adrianople in 1694, but he was eventually exiled to Lemnos.
In 1799 a Mahdi from Tripoli appeared in Egypt, but he was
killed in a fight with the French at Damanhfir.
Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi who in recent years set
the Sudan in a blaze, was born near Donkola between 1840 and
1850 ;
name was ‘Abd-allahi, and that of his mother
his father’s
Aminah. Thus Ahmad’s parents bore the same names as those
of the Prophet. His family were boat builders on the White
Nile,and he worked at the same trade when a boy. When
12 years of age he knew the Kur’an by heart, and when
22 years old he settled down in the island of Abba in the
White and meditated there for 15 years. He lived in a
Nile,
hole in the ground, and fasted and prayed, and his reputation
for sanctity spread over the whole country his followers and
;
disciples increased so fast and in such numbers that at length

he declared himself to be the Mahdi. Like his predecessors
he sent forth envoys to all parts to declare his divine mission.
In 1 881 he and his Dervishes cut to pieces 200 soldiers who
had been sent to seize him and a few months later, at the
;
head of 50,000 rebels, he defeated and slew at Gebel Gaddir

nearly 7,000 Egyptian troops. These victories gave him a
reputation for invincibility, and thousands of men in all parts
of the Sfidan could not help believing in his pretensions when
they saw city after city fall into his hands. Few now doubted
that he was the twelfth and last Imam, and his adoption of the
Shifite views, and his calling his followers by the Persian name
“ Darwish,”* made men to assume the heavenly character of
S
* a mendicant monk.
;
MUHAMMAD AHMAD THE MAHDI. 345
his work. On November 5th, 1883, he annihilated Hicks

Pasha's army, and Al-‘Obed and the neighbouring country
fell into the Mahdi’s hands. On December 19th Slatin Pasha
surrendered to him, and on January 15th, 1884, the valuable
province of Darfiir became a part of the rebel’s kingdom.
In February General Gordon arrived in Khartum on his
fatal mission, having on his way thither, unfortunately, told the
Mudir of Berber and the Emir of Matammah that he was
going to remove the Egyptian garrisons ; this became noised
abroad, and many people, when they learned that the Egyptian
Government was going to abandon the Sudan, joined the
Mahdi. Thus fate played into the Mahdi’s hands. The next
city to fall was Berber, Gordon’s troops having been defeated
on March 16th. On October 23rd the Mahdi arrived in
Omdurman, being well aware of Gordon’s desperate condition
through the correspondence which had been captured in the
steamer “Abbas.” This unfortunate steamer was wrecked on
the Fourth Cataract, and Colonel Stewart was betrayed and
murdered there ; all letters and papers found in the baggage
were sent to the Mahdi. On Sunday night, January 26th, the
Mahdi attacked Khartum and entered the town, and a little
before sunrise on the Monday General Gordon was murdered
and in a few days 50,000 Dervishes looted the town and
destroyed 10,000 men, women, and children. As a proof of
the admiration for General Gordon felt by even his bitterest
foes, it is sufficient to quote a common saying in the Stidan,
“ Had Gordon been one of us, he would have been a perfect
man.” After the capture of Khartum no one doubted the divine
mission of the Mahdi, and his word and power became absolute.
He now gave himself up to a life of ease and luxury. He who
had professed himself satisfied with one coarse garment, and
had lived in a hole in the ground, and slept upon a straw mat,
and fasted and well-nigh starved himself, now dressed himself
in shirts and trousers of silk and in the daintiest fabrics of the
East, and lived in a large, fine house, and slept upon the best
bed that Khartum could produce, and ate dainties and drank
immoderately. Father Ohrwalder tells us that he had his
clothes perfumed before he put them on, and that his wives
anointed his body with the expensive unguent called
"
Sandalia,” musk, and the oil of roses. He had four lawful
wives, and an unlimited number of concubines, among whom
were representatives from almost every tribe in the Sfidan ;
with these were a number of little Turkish girls of eight years

—
346 SPREAD OF MAHDISM.
of age, for the Mahdi’s sensuality spared no one. He would

recline in his house on a splendid carpet, with his head on a
pillow of gold brocade, with as many as 30 women in attend-
ance upon him ; some would fan him with great ostrich feathers,
others would rub his hands and feet as he slept, and Aishah,
£
his chief wife, would cover his head and neck with loving
embraces. His blessing was sought for by tens of thousands
of men and women, and the earth touched by his foot was held
to be holy. His life of ease, however, was his undoing, and a
few months after the fall of Khartum he became ill, and his
disease progressed with such rapidity that he died on June 22nd,
1885, some say of heart disease, others of poison. When the
Mahdi died his sway was absolute over about 2,000,000 square
miles of north-east Africa, and his dominions reached from the
Bahr al-Ghazal to Wadi Halfah, and from Darfur to the Red
Sea. The Mahdi was a tall, broad-shouldered man, strongly
built, and of a light brown colour ; his head was large, and he
wore a black beard. His eyes were black and sparkling, his nose
and mouth were well shaped, and he had a V-shaped aperture
between his two front teeth (called Faljri), which is always
regarded as a sign of good luck in the Sudan ; on each cheek
were the three slits seen on faces everywhere in the Sudan.
The Mahdi’s successor was Sayyid ‘Abd-Allahi, the son of
Muhammad al-Taki, a member of the Taaishah section of the
Bakkarah tribe, and he was a native of the south-western part of
Darfur ; he is commonly known, however, as the Khalifah,
which he was specially appointed to be by the Mahdi. As
brief notices of the defeats of his generals and of his own
defeat and death are* given elsewhere they need not appear
here. He is described by Slatin Pasha as having been a
powerfully built man of a suspicious, resolute, cruel, tyrannical,
vain disposition, hasty in temper, and unscrupulous in action.
His belief in his own powers was unbounded, and he took the
credit for everything that succeeded. He had four legal wives
and a large number of concubines, who were kept under the
charge of a free woman ; at intervals he held a sort of review
of all his ladies, and dismissed numbers of them as presents to
his friends. His chief wife was called Sahrah, with whom he
quarrelled on the subject of food ; she wished him to keep to
the kind of food which he ate in his early days, and he wished
to indulge in Egyptian and Turkish dishes. Twice he gave
her letters of separation, and twice he revoked them.
Birth, Marriage, and Death among the Muhammadans.
;
BIRTH AND MARRIAGE. 347
When a child born, the call to prayer must be pronounced

is
in by a male as soon as possible, for only by

his right ear
this can the child be preserved from the influence of the evil
spirits. The father names the boy, and the mother the girl
no ceremony takes place at the naming of children. A surname
is often added indicating of honour, or
relationship, or a title
the origin, family, birthplace, sect, or trade ; a surname of any
kind usually follows the proper name. When about two years
old a boy’s head is shaved, but two tufts of hair are left, one on
the crown and another on the forehead ; girls’ heads are rarely
shaved. Young children of well-to-do people are often dressed
like those of beggars, and their faces are rarely washed, because
the parents fear lest the Evil Eye be cast upon them.
Boys* are circumcised at the age of five or six years, and the
ceremony is usually made an occasion of joyful display. The
boy is dressed as a girl, and wears a red turban, and rides
a horse, and frequently covers part of his face with the idea of
warding off the glance of the Evil Eye. The barber’s servant
who carries his master’s sign {i.e ihehaml, which is a wooden
.
9
case, with four short legs, ornamented with pieces of looking-

glass, and embossed brass), and a few musicians, walk in front
of the house. In purely Muhammadan schools the education
of boys is very simple ; they learn to declare the unity of God
and their belief in Muhammad as His Prophet, to hate
Christians, to read parts or the whole of the Kur’an, the
Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God, and sometimes they
learn writing and arithmetic. In learning the Kur’an, the
beautiful introductory chapter (Fatihah) is first committed to
memory, then the last chapter, then the last but one, and so
on backwards until the second is reached ; the reason of this
being that the chapters successively decrease in length from
the second to the last. Formerly the girls who could read or
write were very few, and hardly any even learned to say their
prayers. Certain fanatical Muhammadans will hardly allow girls
or women to touch the Kur’an, and on the borders of Persia
the writer bought manuscripts of the book from widows who had
wrapped them in cloth and buried them under their houses,
because they regarded them as too sacred for them to handle.
—
Marriage. Among the Muhammadans it is thought to
be the duty of every man possessing sufficient means to marry.
Girls are betrothed at the age of seven or eight years, a few
* Strabo remarks, ra yevvd)[i€i/a Traidia Kai to TrepLTtnueLV Kal ra O'fjAea
iKTffxvsiv ;
Bk. xvii, 2, § 4, Didot’s edition, p. 699.
34 § MUHAMMADAN MARRIAGE.
are married at io, but many not until 12 or 13; few remain
unmarried age of 16.
after the Marriages are arranged by a
go-between, the deputy of the bride, and by the relatives of
the parties, and as long as the girl is quite a child, her parents
may betroth her to whom they please. The amount of the
dowry varies from ^10 to ^50, according to the position of
the parties, and the dowry of a widow, or divorced woman, is
less than that of a maiden. Two-thirds of the dowry are
paid immediately before the marriage contract is made, and
the remaining third is held in reserve to be paid to the wife
in the event of her husband’s divorcing her against her
consent, or of his death. The marriage takes place in the
evening about eight or ten days after the contract has been
made, and the day usually chosen is Thursday or Sunday. On
the Wednesday or Saturday the bride is conducted to the
bath, and is accompanied by her friends and relatives, and
musicians ; she walks under a canopy of silk, which is open in
front, but she herself is covered with a Kashmir shawl of some
bright colour. After the bath she returns to her house, and
that evening the nails of her hands and feet are stained yellow
with henna. The same evening the bridegroom entertains
his friends lavishly, and the next day the bride goes in state
from her home to his house, and partakes of a meal. At
sunset the bridegroom goes to the bath, and a few hours
later to the mosque, after which he is escorted to his house
by friends and relatives bearing lamps, and by musicians.
Marriage ceremonies may be elaborate or simple, according to
the taste or position of the bride or bridegroom, and if a
woman merely says to a man who wishes to marry her, “ I
give myself to thee,” even without the presence of witnesses,
she becomes his legal wife. Usually a man in Egypt prefers
to marry a girl who has neither mother nor any female relative.
A part of the house is specially reserved (harim) for women,
i,e ., and female slaves, so that these
wife or wives, daughters,
may not be seen by the male servants and strange men unless
properly veiled. A Muhammadan may possess four wives and
a number of female slaves, and he may rid himself of a wife by
merely saying, “Thou art divorced.” He may divorce a wife
twice, and each time receive her back without further ceremony,
but he cannot legally take her back again after a third divorce
until she has been married to and divorced by another man ;
a triple divorce may be conveyed in a single sentence.
Mr. Lane (.Modern Egyptians ,
vol. 1, p. 231), commenting on
MARRIAGE AND DEATH. 349
the depraving effects of divorce upon the sexes, says that many
men, in a period of 10 years, have married 20 or 30 wives, and
that women not far advanced in age have been known to
be wives to a dozen or more men successively. The abuse of
divorce among the lower classes in Egypt is perhaps the
greatest curse of the country, and its mental, moral, and
physical effects are terrible.
—
Death. As soon as a man dies, the women begin to
lament loudly, and often professional wailing women are sent
for to beat their tambourines and utter cries of grief ; the
relatives join them in their cries, and with dishevelled hair
beat their faces and rend their garments. If a man dies in the
morning he is buried before night, but if he dies in the after-
noon or later he is not buried until the next day. The body
is carefully washed and sprinkled with rose-water, etc., the
eyes are closed, the jaw is bound up, the ankles are tied
together, the hands are placed on the breast, and the ears and
nostrils are stopped with cotton. The style and quality of
the cere-cloths vary with the position and means of the
deceased: when dressed the body is laid upon a bier and
covered with a Kashmir shawl. The funeral procession is
composed of six poor men, mostly blind, who walk slowly
and chant, u There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the
Apostle of God. God bless and save him !” Next come the
male friends and relatives of the deceased ; then two or more
Dervishes, with the flags of the sect to which they belong ; then
three or four schoolboys, one of whom carries upon a palm-
stick desk a copy of the Kur’an covered with a cloth, singing
a poem on the events of the Last Day, the Judgment, etc.
Next comes the bier, borne head -foremost, and then the female
mourners ; the bier is carried by friends in relays of four into
a mosque, and is set down in the place of prayer, so that the
right side of the body may be towards Mecca ; both men and
women from the procession enter the mosque, and prayers are
then said ascribing majesty to God, and beseeching mercy for
the dead. In the longest prayer the leader of prayer says, “ O
God, verily this is Thy servant and son of Thy servant he :
hath departed from the repose of the world, and from its
amplitude, and from whatever he loved, and from those by
whom he was loved in it, to the darkness of the grave, and
to what he experienceth. He did testify that there is no
deity but Thee alone ; that Thou hast no companion ; and
that Muhammad is Thy servant and Thine Apostle ; and
;
35 ° DEATH AND BURIAL.
Thou art all-knowing respecting him. O God, he hath gone

to abide with Thee, and Thou art the best with whom
to abide. He hath become in need of Thy mercy, and
Thou hast no need of his punishment. We have come to
Thee supplicating that we may intercede for him. O God,
if he were a doer of good, over-reckon his good deeds ; and
if he were an evil-doer, pass over his evil-doings ; and of
Thy mercy grant that he may experience Thine acceptance
and spare him the trial of the grave, and its torment and;
make his grave wide to him ; and keep back the earth from his
sides ; and of Thy mercy grant that he may experience security
from Thy torment, until Thou send him safely to Thy Paradise,
O Thou most merciful of those who show mercy ” (Lane’s
!
translation.)
After the other prayers have been said, the leader in prayer,
addressing those present, says, “ Give your testimony respecting
him,” and they reply, “ He was of the virtuous.” The bier
is then taken up, and the procession re-forms in the same
order as before, and the body is taken to the grave. In the
case of well-to-do people the grave is an oblong brick vault,
which is sufficiently high to allow the deceased to sit upright
when being examined by the two angels Munkar and Nakir ;
over the vault a low, oblong monument is built, having an
upright stone at the head and foot. On the stone at the
head are inscribed the name of the deceased, the date of
death, and a verse from the Kuran. The body is taken
from the bier, its bandages are untied, and it is then laid
in the vault on its right side with the face towards Mecca ;
a little earth is gently laid upon the body, and the vault is
closed. But the pious Muhammadans have imagined it to be
possible for the deceased to forget what he ought to say when
the angels Munkar and Nakir come to examine him ; therefore,
in many cases, an instructor of the dead takes his seat near the
tomb after the body has been laid therein, and tells the
deceased what questions he will be asked and what answers he
is to make. After the burial, food and drink are distributed
among the poor, who come in large numbers to the burial of
a manof means and position. The soul is thought to remain
with the body on the night of burial, and afterwards to depart
to its appointed place to await the day of doom. Men do not
wear mourning in any case, but women dye their garments
blue with indigo as a sign of grief, for everyone except an old
man they also leave their hair unplaited, and omit to put on
;
certain of their ornaments.

— 1;
MUHAMMADAN CALLS TO PRAYER. 35
—
The Fatihah. As mention has been made above of the
Fatihah, the opening chapter of the Kur’an, a version of it is
here given “ In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Gracious.
:
Praise be unto God, the Lord of the worlds, the Merciful, the
Gracious, the Ruler of the day of judgment. Thee do we
worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance Direct us in the
right way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast been
gracious, upon whom there is no wrath, and who have not
erred.” It is to the Muhammadans what the Lord’s Prayer is
to Christians.
The Call to Prayer, which is usually sung from the gallery
of the minaret (Arab, manaraK) by the mueddin of the mosque,

is as follows “ God: is great. God is great. God is great.
God is great.bear witness that there is no god but God.
I
I bear witness that there is no god but God. I bear witness
that Muhammad is the Apostle of God. I bear witness that
Muhammad is the Apostle of God. Come to prayer. Come
to prayer. Come to security. Come to security. God is great.
God is great. There is no god but God.” At certain large
mosques two other calls to prayer are cried during the night,
the first a little after midnight, and the second about an hour
before daybreak.
Mr. Lane’s renderings of these “ calls ” are as follows :
I. “There is no deity but God, there is no deity but God,
there is no deity but God alone. He hath no companion ; to

Him belongeth the dominion; and to Him belongeth praise.
He giveth and causeth death ; and He is living, and shall
life,
never die. In His hand is blessing [or, good] ; and He is

almighty. There is no deity but God, there is no deity but
God, there is no deity but God, and we will not worship any
beside Him, serving Him with sincerity of religion, though the
infidels be averse [thereto]. There is no deity but God.
Mohammad is the most noble of the creation in the sight of
God. Mohammad is the best prophet that hath been sent,
and a lord by whom his companions became lords ;
comely
liberal of gifts ;
pleasant to the taste ; sweet ; soft to
perfect ;
the throat [or, to be drunk]. Pardon, O Lord, Thy servant

and Thy poor dependant, the endower of this place, and him
who watcheth it with goodness and beneficence, and its neigh-
bours, and those who frequent it at the times of prayers and
good acts, O Thou Bountiful O Lord, O Lord, O Lord.
:
—
Thou art He Who ceaseth not to be distinguished by mercy ;
Thou art liberal of Thy clemency towards the rebellious ; and
35 2 CALLS TO PRAYER.
protectesthim ; and concealest what is foul ; and makest

manifest every virtuous action ; and Thou bestowest Thy
beneficence upon the servant, and comfortest Him, O Thou
Bountiful :
—
O Lord, O Lord, O Lord. My sins, when I think
upon them, [I see to be] many ; but the mercy of my Lord is
more abundant than are my sins; I am not solicitous on
account of good that I have done ; but for the mercy of God
I am most solicitous. Extolled be the Everlasting. He
hath no companion in His great dominion. His perfection
[I extol] : exalted be His name :
[I extol] the perfection of
God.”
II. “ [I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing for ever
and ever. [I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing for
ever and ever. [I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing
for ever and ever, the perfection of God, the Desired, the
Existing, the Single, the Supreme the perfection of God, the
:
One, the Sole the perfection of Him Who taketh to Himself,

:
in His great dominion, neither female companion, nor male

partner, nor any like unto Him. nor any that is disobedient,
nor any deputy, nor any equal, nor any offspring. His perfec-
tion [be extolled] and exalted be His name. He is a Deity
:
Who knew what hath been before it was, and called into
existence what hath been ; and He is now existing as He was
[at the first]. His perfection [be extolled] and exalted be :
His name. He is a Deity unto Whom there is none like

existing. There is none like unto God, the Bountiful, existing.
There is none like unto God, the Clement, existing. There is
none like unto God, the Great, existing. There is none like
unto God, the Great, existing. And there is no deity but
Thou, O our Lord, to be worshipped, and to be praised, and
to be desired, and to be glorified. [I extol] the perfection of
Him Who created all creatures, and numbered them, and dis-
tributed their sustenance, and decreed the terms of the lives of
His servants ; and our Lord, the Bountiful, the Clement, the
Great, forgetteth not one of them. [I extol] the perfection of
Him, Who, of His power and greatness, caused the pure water
to flow from the solid stone, the mass of rock the perfection :
of Him Who spake with our Lord Moosa [or, Moses] upon the
mountain ; whereupon the mountain was reduced to dust,
through dread of God, Whose name be exalted, the One, the
Soie. There is no deity but God. He is a just Judge.
[I extol] the perfection of the First. Blessing and peace
be on thee, O comely of countenance Apostle of God.
: O
DERVISHES. 353
Blessing and peace be on thee, O

first of the creatures of God,
and seal of the apostles of God. Blessing and peace be on

thee, O thou Prophet; on thee and on thy Family, and all thy
Companions. God is most Great, God is most Great, God is
most Great, God is most Great. I testify that there is no deity
but God. I testify that there is no deity but God. I testify
that Mohammad is God’s Apostle. I testify that Mohammad
is God’s Apostle. Come to prayer. Come to prayer. Come
to security. Come to security. God is most Great. God is
most Great. There is no deity but God. O God, bless and

save and still beatify the beatified Prophet, our lord Mohammad.
And may God, Whose name be blessed and exalted, be well
pleased with thee, O our lord El-Hasan, and with thee, O our
lord El-Hoseyn, and with thee, O Aboo Farrag, O Sheykh of
the Arabs and with all the favourites of God. Amen.”
Muhammadan Calendar. —
The Muhammadans reckon
their era from July 16th, 622, i.e. the day following the Flight
y
| (
Al-Hijrah ) of the Prophet from Mecca to Madinah. Their
year is lunar, and always consists of 12 lunar months, beginning
with the approximate new moon, without any intercalation to
keep them in the same season with respect to the sun, so that
they retrograde through all the seasons in about 32 J years.
Their years are divided into cycles of 30 years, 19 of which
I contain 354 days, and the other 11 are intercalary years,
having an extra day added to the last month. The mean
length of the year is 354 days 8 hours 48 minutes a mean ;
lunation = 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes; the difference

between a mean lunation and an astronomical lunation will
amount to a day in about 2,400 years. The names of the
months are : —
Muharram (30 days), Safar (29 days), RabFa
I al-awwai (30 days), RabFa al akhir (29 days), Gumada al-awwal
(30 days), Gumada al-akhir (29 days), Ragab (30 days),
Sha‘ban (29 days), Ramadan (30 days), Shawwal (29 days),
Dhu’l-kaMah (30 days), and Dhu’l-higgah (29 days).
Dervishes.
The Dervishes (from the Arabic darwish plur .darawish) are
,
composed of a number of bodies of men, many of whom declare

themselves to be “favourites” of God, and they lead lives which
are more or less ascetic, and claim to have the power of working
miracles by means of the power of God which, they declare,
resides in them. Some of the orders emulate the lives of the
most ascetic of the Christian Fathers, and they starve and ill -
z
—
354 DERVISHES.
treat theirbodies in a manner which is at times almost incom-

prehensible. Opinions are divided as to their object in doing
this. Some maintain that they perform severe ascetic labours
on earth merely that they may escape punishment in the next
world, and may obtain the joys of Paradise, and others declare
that they do them because they believe that in proportion as
they mortify the flesh and subdue its passions and desires, they
obtain a greater measure of the Spirit or Presence of God
which comes to them, and makes its abode in them. It is,
however, very hard to believe that the latter view exists to any
great extent among the dervishes of Cairo, for large numbers
of them spend most of their lives in following the ordinary
occupations of the world, and are only dervishes on special
occasions ; many of them are married, and many of them court
and enjoy the admiration of the spectators who watch them at
their devotions, and are not by any means averse from the
receipt of gifts. The surroundings and manner of life of most
of them are wholly incompatible with the divine contemplation
in solitude, coupled with fasting and prayer, and the weaving
of mats and baskets, which we associate with the teachings of
Anthony the Great, Macarius, Pachomius, and others. The
four great orders of Dervishes in Egypt at the present time
are :
i. The Rifa‘iyah, which was founded by Sayyid Ahmad

Rifa‘ah A1 Kabir ; its banners are black, and the turbans of its
members are black, or very dark blue or green. The division
of this order, called Tlwaniyah, thrust iron spikes into their eyes,
break large masses of stone on their chests, eat live coals and
glass, drive swords through their bodies and large needles through
their cheeks, and it is said that members of this division when
almost naked used to carry under their arms pieces of palm-trunks
filled with burning rags which had been soaked in oil and tar,
and that they bore them in religious processions with the
flames curling over their bare chest, back, and head, apparently
without injury to themselves. Another division of the order is
the Su‘diyah, and its members perform wonderful tricks with
living snakes and scorpions, which they partly eat. Formerly
a number of these dervishes used, on the Prophet’s birthday,
to lay themselves side by side on the ground and allow their
Shekh to ride over their bodies, and it was asserted by all who
were interested in the matter that the men were not hurt by the
horses’ hoofs. The ceremony is called the “ Dosah,” and was
abolished by Tawfik Pasha soon after he became Khedive.
DANCING DERVISHES. 355
2. The order Kadiriyah was founded by Sayyid ‘Abd al-

Kadir Al-Gilani ; its members carry white banners, and most of
them are fishermen.
3. The order Ahmadiyah was founded by Ahmad Al-
Badawi, also known as Abu Farrag, a saint who is buried at
Tanta in the Delta ; its members carry red banners, and are
regarded with much esteem. Other divisions of the order are
the Beyumiyah, the Sha‘arawiyah,and the Shinnawiyah.
The members of the last-named division train an ass to perform
a strange part in the ceremonies of the last day of the birthday
festival of their great patron saint. The ass, of its own accord,
enters the mosque of the Sayyid, proceeds to the tomb, and
there stands while multitudes crowd around it, and each person
who can approach near enough to it plucks off some of its

hair, to use as a charm, until the skin of the poor beast is as
bare as the palm of a man’s hand. The Awlad Nuh, or
“ sons of Noah,” also belong to this order, and they wear high
caps, with a tuft of pieces of various coloured cloth on the top,
wooden swords, and numerous strings of beads, and carry a
kind of whip, a thick twist of cords, etc.
4. The order Burhamiyah was founded by Ibrahim of
the town of Dasuk ; its members carry green banners and wear
green turbans.
The religious exercises of the dervishes consist chiefly in the
performance of Zikrs. The men usually stand or sit in a
double line, facing each other, and shout in Arabic, “ There is
no god but God,” or “ God, God, God,” or repeat some
similar invocation until their strength fails or their voice gives
out, and all the time they are shouting they move forward their
heads or arms or the whole of the upper halves of their bodies.
To aid them in their rhythmical bowings they are often accom-
panied by some kind of musical instrument, and the length of
time which they can continue their bowings is so long that the
beholder is utterly wearied with watching them. Mr. Lane
witnessed a performance of the Dancing Dervishes, six in
number, who began their exhibition by shouting “ Allah”
to the beating of tambourines. Each seemed to be per-
forming the antics of a madman, and jumped and screamed,
and seemed bent rather on playing the buffoon than on
observing religious exercises. One man had nothing on but a
tunic without sleeves and girdle, and another wore a cap only.
The former rushed to a copper warming dish full of red-hot
charcoal, and snatching up piece after piece of the glowing
z 2
356 HOWLING DERVISHES.
charcoal thrust it in his mouth ; having kept the charcoal in his

mouth for three minutes he swallowed it, apparently without
injury to himself. His companion also seized a large piece of
red-hot charcoal, which, after two minutes, he chewed and
swallowed, and then continued his dance. The dancing
dervishes were founded by Muhammad ibn ‘tsa, a man from
the north-west coast of Africa. The Whirling Dervishes
used to form themselves into a large ring, and as they shouted
“ Allah ” they bowed the head and body and took a step to the
right, so that the whole ring moved round. One of the number
then stepped out into the centre, and for about ten minutes
whirled himself about with such rapidity that his dress spread
out like an umbrella ; he then returned to the ring, and other
dervishes left it, and having formed a small ring by themselves,
they whirled round at a most extravagant rate, and the outer
ring moved round quicker and quicker, each man shouting
“ Allah,” and stepping to the right as quickly as he could. The
Howling Dervishes either stand and bow their heads and
bodies, and shout “ Allah ” each time they do so, or they kneel
for long periods and proclaim their belief in Allah and his
Prophet Muhammad. After a time, when they have worked
themselves up to the pitch of frenzy necessary, they keep
shouting “ Hu,” i.e., He, that is, God. It is this exclamation
which has caused certain travellers to describe them as “ Barking
Dervishes.” In Egypt, as in all Muslim countries, the number
of orders of dervishes is legion ; new ones spring up each
generation, and others disappear. The profession of dervish
is followed by many beggars, who succeed in obtaining a good
livelihood from the well-to-do and benevolent Muhammadans,

who have usually a kindly feeling for the wandering poor.
In the first half of the XIXth century there might often be
seen in Cairo and Tanta dervishes who were considered to be
specially holy on account of pilgrimages which they had per-
formed with great labour to the shrines of certain Muhammadan
saints. Some would visit Karbala, where the descendants of
c
Ali are specially venerated, not by walking or riding there in
the ordinary way, but by lying down at full length on the
ground and getting upright on their feet many thousands of
times until they had literally measured the whole way, from the
place where they started to their destination, with their bodies.
Others would shout “ Hu,” i.e., He, that is, God, so many times
a minute from sunrise to sunset, for months or years at a time.
357
CHAPTER XX.
British Financial Policy in Egypt.
The progress made in Egypt since the country passed under
the rule of the British is astonishing, even to those who know
its wonderful powers of recuperation. Its material prosperity
is so great, and it still advances with such rapid strides, that it
is difficult to understand the miserable and bankrupt condition
at the time of Arabi Pasha’s rebellion. Everywhere improve-

ment is seen, and those who visit the country year after year
see that the improvement is continuous, and that it extends in
all directions. The lament is often heard that the country is
being too much Europeanized, but those who make it should
remember that dirt, squalor, disease, misery, poverty, ignor-
ance, oppression, injustice, and official corruption of every
kind may appear to be exceedingly picturesque when seen by
the foreigner for the first time, but that such things make
neither for material prosperity nor progress. Cairo was occu-
pied by the British on September 15th, 1882, and it will be
instructive to note the principal changes which have been
effected in Egypt since that time by Lord Cromer and by the
extremely able body of men who have carried them out.
In the first place the Stidan has been conquered, and the
Egyptian flag flies side by side with that of Great Britain
at Khartum ; the condition of the army has been improved,
and the soldiers are well fed, properly clothed, and have their
salary paid to them regularly, without deductions or drawbacks,
or the payment of bakshish . Very large sums of money have
been spent on irrigation works, and now, thanks to the repair
of Mougel’s Barrage, near Cairo, and the Asyut Barrage, the
Esna Barrage, and the Aswan Dam, the value of the crops has
been more than doubled, the value of much land has been
doubled, and even trebled, and when the projects now under
discussion have been carried out, Egypt will be, from a material
point of view, one of the most prosperous countries of the
world. The water supply is regulated with justice, and the
peasant obtains his share as surely and as regularly as the
Pasha, and it is now practically impossible for any large land-
owner to irrigate his garden at the expense of the parched
plots of his poor neighbours. A reassessment of taxation is
now going on and, wonderful to relate, but few complaints are
heard among the landed proprietors.
358 REDUCTION OF TAXATION.
The upper classes have been deprived of the benefits to

which they were not entitled by the abolition of the corvee
as existed in 1S83.
it Under the old system the entire estates
of many wealthy men were tilled, sown, reaped, and worked
wholly by the corvee, the wretched gangs of men from which
were compelled to dig and clean the canals, without receiving
thanks, or payment, or food. Under the skilful manipulation
of the ruling classes, who usually obtained exemption for
their own servants and those of their friends, the whole burden
of the system was thrown upon the poorest inhabitants, who
were in every way the least able to bear it. The abolition of
forced labour costs the Government at least ^420,000 a year,
but it is one of the greatest of all the boons which has been
conferred upon the Egyptian peasant. At the present time
out of a population of over 11,250,000 only about 20,000 men
are called out to protect the banks of the river for 100 days
during the inundation. In 1892 the number was 84,391, and
in 1901, 8,763; in 1910 the number was 19,201. The
taxation, moreover, has been considerably reduced. Thus
in 1881 the taxation per head of the population was
£1 2s 2 d., and in 1897 it was only 17s. 9 d. and the debt
.
;
per head of the population, which amounted to ^£14 8s. 9 d.

in 1881, was reduced to os. 2 d. in 1897. In January,
1882, “Egyptian Unifieds ” were quoted at 61^-, and in
January, 1901, at 106L In Cairo and Alexandria and other
large cities money has been freely spent by the Government
in making new roads and streets, in lighting and repairs, in
creating a pure water supply, and careful attention has been,
and still is, given to hospitals, prisons, a lunatic asylum, etc.
Great reforms have been brought about in administration of
justice, and each year sees some new attempt to bring Egypt
more and more into line with the civilization of Western
nations. Changes of this kind have been brought about only
by steady and persistent work, keen judgment, strong deter-
mination, and an honest administration of the finances of the
country, notwithstanding the opposition which was offered from
many quarters, both native and foreign. All these great and
far-reaching changes have been brought about by the devoted
efforts of the relatively small body of British Officers and Civil
Servants whom Lord Cromer was fortunate enough to find
available, and this fact must never be forgotten.
In one of his reports (Egypt, No. 1, 1903) Lord Cromer
made a statement as to the financial policy which he
— ;
BRITISH FINANCIAL POLICY IN EGYPT. 359
followed from 1883-1903; he made no mystery of the

process by which he successfully won Egypt’s “ race against
bankruptcy,” and as the main facts cannot be too well or
too widely known they are summarized here. The Report
of the Commission of Enquiry which sat in 1878 declared
that “ what had to be done was to create an entirely new
fiscal system, and that with a very limited staff, for hardly
anything of that which ought to exist is in existence at the
present time.” In other words, the abuses which had
grown up in every branch of the Egyptian body politic were
so general and so deep rooted as to defy the application of
any remedy which would be effectual and, at the same time,
speedy. Finance, instead of being used as the most powerful
of all engines for the social and material improvement of
the people, had degenerated into a series of clumsy and often
cruel devices, conceived with the object of first extracting the
maximum amount of revenue from unwilling contributors
and then spending the proceeds on objects which, for the
most part, conferred no benefits whatever upon the con-
tributors themselves. In 1867 Lady Duff Gordon wrote:
“ I cannot describe the misery here now — every day some new
tax. Every beast, camel, cow, sheep, donkey, and horse is
made to pay. The fellaheen can no longer eat bread; they
are living on barley-meal mixed with water, and raw green
stuff, vetches, etc. The taxation makes life almost impossible
a tax on every crop, on every animal first, and again when it is
sold in the market ; on every man, on charcoal, on butter, on
salt.. . The people in Upper Egypt are running away by
.
wholesale, utterly unable to pay the new taxes, and do the

work exacted. Even here (Cairo) the beating for the year’s
taxes is awful.”
In 1882 three things were quite clear :
—
(1) The people
were overtaxed. (2) It was absolutely necessary to spend a
large sum of money on drainage and irrigation. (3) Reforms
were needed in every department of the State. As it was
impossible to carry out all these reforms at once, and as
people were more interested in the reduction of taxation than
in administrative reforms, Lord Cromer decided to relieve the
taxpayers as soon as possible, to spend all the funds available
in remunerative public works, and to carry out the most
pressing reforms in the Departments of Law, Medicine, and
Education. We have already seen that the corvee system was
abolished at a cost of Ê. 400, 000 a year, and we must now
• 1
3<5° ABOLITION OF TAXES.
note that the land tax was reduced by about Ê. 5 7 0,000
a yean The professional tax, Ê. 180, 000 a year; the goat
and sheep Ê.40,000 a year; and the weighing tax,
tax,
Ê. 2 8, 000, were abolished; the navigation of the Nile was
freed at a cost of Ê.46,000 a year, and bridge tolls were
taken off. The octroi duties, Ê. 2 00, 000 a year, were
remitted ; Ê.40,000 a year were remitted on fisheries ; the
light dues were reduced Ê. 63, 000 a year; the salt tax was
abolished at a cost of Ê. 17 5, 000 a year. The tax on
fishing boats was abolished, and the tax on ferries was either
reduced or abolished. Import duty on coal, liquid fuel,
charcoal, firewood, timber for building, petroleum, live stock
and dead meat was reduced from 8 per cent, to 4 per cent.,
large reductions were made in postal, telegraph, and railway
rates ;
and the receipts from the house tax rose from about
Ê.57,806 in 1880 to Ê.21 1,279 in 1908. The only
increase of taxation was in the duty on tobacco, which was
raised from 14 piastres to 20 per kilo. In short, during the
20 years under consideration, direct taxation to the extent of
about Ê. 1,600,000 annually was remitted. The rate of
taxation per head of population sunk from jQi 2s. 1 \d. in
1882 to 16^. 2 d. in 1902. In spite of all this, however,
the Egyptian revenue increased by about Ê. 2, 000, 000 or
Ê.2,500,000. In 1901 only 592 acres of land out of a total
tax-paying area of 5,540,900 were sold up by the Government,
and on a total assessment of Ê. 4, 698, 000 arrears to the
amount of only 18,278 were due at the end of the year.
The revenue returns for 1890-1903 were : —
Ê. £&
1890 10,236,612 1897 ..,. 1 1, ,092,564
1891 • io, 539 46 o
,
1898 . 11, i , 3 r 9 So
,
1892 • 10,297,312 1899 . I T,,200,303
1893 . 10,241,866 1900 1 h 447,095 ,
1894 . IO,l6l,3l8 1901 1

943 9 2 4
,
, ,
1895 . • 10,431,265 1902 II, 933, 0 64

,
1896 •
10,693,577 1 I 9°3 •• 12.,248,108
Up to the end of 1902 about Ê. 9, 000, 000 had been

devoted to drainage and irrigation, and as a result land tax was
paid on 5,540,900 acres instead of on 4,758,474 as in 1882 ;
the value of the imports increased from about 8, 000, 000
in 1883-84 to over Ê. 2 1,564,000 in 1905 ; and in the
— — .
same period the exports grew from Ê. 12,000,000 to

Ê.20, 360,000. The cotton crop varied between 1882-1903
from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 kantars (about 100 lbs.), and in
1905 the total crop was 6,352,000 kantars. The total receipts
of theEgyptian Government from 1882 to 1901, both
inclusive, were Ê.2 24, 206,1 51. This money was spent in
the following ways :
—
I. Ordinary expenditure £v.
1. Khedivial Civil List ••• 5.919.917
2. Justice ... 7.054,503
3. Public Works ... 10,419,807
4. Education ... ... 1,822,547
5. Medical Department ... 1,852,515
6. Other administrative expenditure ... 22,152,310
7. Expenses of revenue-earning admini-
strations ... 20,769,036
8. Army ... 12,368,109
9. Pensions ... ••• 8,655,745
10. Tribute ••• 13,393,910
11. Interest on Debt ..
79,448,786
12. Suppression of corvee ••• 5,977,454
13. Sudan ... 3,678,889
II. Extraordinary expenditure

(A) 1. Alexandria indemnities 4,143,956
2. Irrigation and drainage ... 4,120,121
3. Emission of loans 988,014
4. Commutation of pensions, etc. • •• 3,633,612
5. Public buildings 943,183
6. Postal steamers 210,569
7. Railways 966,727
8. Sudan ... ... 2,6l8,827
9. Miscellaneous... 759,943
18,384,952
(B) 1. Public buildings 38,209

2. Railways 907,618
3. Miscellaneous... 24,367
970,194
I9.355>I46
III. Paid into Sinking Fund 896,741
Total of all expenditures ... ... 213,765,415
leaving a balance of Ê. 10,440,736, which was spent on

Conversion Economies, the General and Special Reserve
Funds, etc. Thus we see that every piastre which passed
—
362 JUSTICE AND EDUCATION.
through the Government Treasury during the period under

consideration is accounted for. There was no “ leakage,” and
no sums of money, like those which used to be sent to
Constantinople, of which it was said, u On n’a pu rendre
compte.”
In 1878 the ruling Khedive agreed to accept a Civil List in
lieu of the revenue which was derived from the properties which
afterwards served as the security on which the Domains Loan
°f ,£8,500,000 was raised. In 1882 the Civil List amounted to
Ê.384,000 a year; in 1889 a number of allowances of the
Khedivial family were commuted for Ê. 1,3 10,000, and the
Civil List in 1903 cost rather more than a quarter of a million
a year. On Justice a large amount of money was spent,
and it may be noted that the receipts from fees and stamp
duties rose from Ê. 2 00,000 to Ê. 2 1,000 a year. The
5
cost of the Native Courts rose from Ê.54,000 in 1882
to £E. 173, 000 in 1901. As regards Education, the
sum of;£E. 1,822,547 does not really represent all that
was spent on this important item. The money spent on
education in 1882 was Ê.76,000, but in 1901 the sum was
Ê. 173,000, out of which were maintained nine colleges and
40 schools ; 87 village schools were under Government control,
and the number of pupils had risen to 11,931, and of teachers
to 760. In 1887 only 1,919 pupils were under the direct
management of the Department of Public Instruction.
In 1882 the principal European language taught in the
Government schools was French ; English was either altogether
neglected or was very badly taught. The schools of the
American missionaries were the only places in which instruc-
tion in English could be obtained, and the splendid services
rendered by these institutions in this respect must not be
forgotten. Until the last few years nearly every railway, postal,
or telegraph official who possessed any competent knowledge
of the English language owed his instruction to the American
missionaries. The following figures illustrate the growth of the
study of English in Government schools :
Pupils learning Pupils learning

English. French.
1889 ... 1,063 2,994
1890 ... 1,747 3 D 99
1891 ... 2,052 2,852
1892 ••• 2,237 2,864
1893 ... ••• 2,434 2,585
Pupils learning Pupils learning

English. French.
1894 ... 2,669 3,748
1895 ... ... 2,665 3,417
1896 2,800 3,363
1897 ... ... 3,058 3,15°
1898 ••• 3,859 1,881
1899 ... ... 4,401 1,210
Thus in 1899 about 78 per cent, of the pupils were studying
English and 22 per cent. French; in 1889 the figures were
26 per cent, and 74 per cent, respectively. In 1882 the State
grant for the Medical Department was Ê.70,000 a year, but
in 1901 it was Ê. 108,000. The Army in 1904 cost about
;£E. 745,000 a year instead of £E. 864, 000 in 1881. Pensions
cost about Ê.430,000 a year, and Tribute paid to Turkey
about Ê. 665, 000 a year. The late Ismail Pasha obtained
certain privileges from the Sultan of Turkey, and the Egyptians
had to pay a considerably higher tribute than formerly. In
1863 the Public Debt of Egypt amounted to Ê.3,293,000,
but 13 years (1876) later it had grown to ;£E. 94,000,000, for
which there was absolutely nothing to show except the Suez
Canal. Enormous sums of money were sent to Constantinople
by Ismail Pasha, the building of numerous palaces absorbed
a great deal more, and among small items Lord Cromer notes
that ^150,000 was due to a Paris dressmaker. Moreover,
Ismail and his own Finance Minister engaged in an operation
on the Stock Exchange, the basis of which was that he was
to “ bear ” his own stock ! And on one occasion the Govern-
ment, in part payment of a debt due to a local bank, handed
over ^230,000 worth of Unified Stock at a price of 31^; in
other words, in order to pay ^72,000, the Government saddled
the country permanently with a debt of ^230,000, of which
the interest charge, at the then prevailing rate of 6 per cent.,
amounted to ^13,800 a year.
The productive and recuperative powers of Egypt have been
proverbial from time out of mind, but the most sanguine reformer
in 1883 could never have expected to witness such a state of
prosperity in the country in a period of 20 years after the
British Occupation. Lord Cromer laid it down as an axiom
that “ sound finance must form the basis of all good govern-
ment, [and] reforms in every other direction must necessarily
be made dependent on the assured maintenance of financial
equilibrium, without having recourse to fiscal measures of a
3^4 BRITISH FINANCIAL POLICY IN EGYPT.
vexatious or oppressive nature,” and the prosperity of Egypt

illustrates daily the truth of these pregnant words. He admitted
that in spending 224, 000,000 some minor errors may
have been made, but it need hardly be said that if such errors
were made, they were due to circumstances caused by the
reckless extravagance of Ismahl and his Ministers, and not to
any defect in the financial policy which the British have
pursued unswervingly in the country. Egypt’s “ race against
bankruptcy” was won by Lord Cromer, whose strong hand
ceaselessly guided and supported every detail of the wise,
honest, and far-sighted plans for the resurrection of the
country which he himself inaugurated, and by the little
band of civil and military officials who have performed their
duties with fidelity and discretion. Owing to the signing of
the Anglo-French Agreement in 1904, a new impetus has been
given to Egyptian progress and reform, and Lord Cromer
reported in 1905 that “the whole machine of Government
“worked very smoothly,” and he thought that “there was
“ every reason to believe that this steady and uniform rate of
“ progress would be maintained in future years, but nowhere
“ must there be undue haste.” The official Reports of Progress
published since 1905 prove that this forecast was correct, and
that the British officials who control the affairs of Egypt have
no cause to be disheartened. For two or three years Egypt
passed through a period of depression and commercial
difficulty, but things are righting themselves, and the revenue
has once again begun to expand. The opposition of the small
section of the population which dislikes the British Occupation
is being overcome, and officials, both British and native,
are beginning to understand each other. Patience and
sympathy will enable Great Britain to realize the great under-
taking upon which she entered in 1883.
—
365
CHAPTER XXI.
Comparative Table of the Muhammadan and
Christian Eras.
The era in use among the Arabs is that of the Hijrah, or
“Flight,” and should be reckoned from Friday, June 20th,
a.d. 622, i,e ., the day after Muhammad the Prophet fled from
Mecca to Madinah. Modern Arab writers, however, make
this era begin on July 16, 622. As, in most works dealing
with the Muhammadan section of the history of Egypt, the
dates given are those of the Hijrah, the following table
giving the Christian era equivalents of a number of years of
the Arab era will be useful :
A. H. A.D. A. H. a.u. A.H. A.D. A.H. A.D. A.H. A.D.

I 622 36 656 7 1 690 I06 724 141 758
2 623 37 657 72 691 107 725 I42 759
3 624 38 658 73 692 108 726 143 760
4 625 39 659 74 693 IO9 727 144 761
5 626 40 660 75 694 no 728 145 762
6 627 4i 661 76 695 III 729 146 763
7 628 42 662 77 696 1 12 730 147 764
8 629 43 663 78 697 11 3 731 148 765
9 630 44 664 79 698 114 73 2 149 766
10 631 45 665 80 699 ii 5 733 150 767
11 632 46 666 81 700 116 734 151 768
12 633 47 66 7 82 701 117 735 152 769
13 634 48 668 83 702 118 736 153 770
14 635 49 669 84 703 119 737 154 770
15 636 50 670 85 704 120 737 155 771
16 637 5 i 671 86 705 121 738 156 772
1
7 638 52 672 87 705 122 739 157 773
18 639 53 672 88 706 123 740 158 774
19 640 54 673 89 707 124 74 i 159 775
20 640 55 674 90 708 125 742 l6o 776
21 641 56 675 9i 709 126 743 l6l 777
22 642 57 676 92 710 127 744 162 778
23 643 58 6 77 93 7 11 128 745 163 779
24 644 59 678 94 712 129 746 164 780
25 645 60 679 95 713 130 747 165 781
26 646 61 680 96 714 131 748 166 782
27 647 62 681 97 715 132 749 167 783
28 648 63 682 98 716 133 750 .168 784
29 649 64 683 99 717 134 75 i 169 785
30 650 65 684 100 718 135 752 170 786
3i 651 66 685 IOI 719 136 753 171 787
32 652 67 686 102 720 137 754 172 788
33 653 68 687 103 721 138 755 173 789
34 654 69 688 104 722 139 756 174 790
35 655 70 689 105 723 140 757 175 791
I
366 MUHAMMADAN AND CHRISTIAN ERAS.
A. H. A. D. A. H. A. D. A. H. A.D. A. H. A. D. A. H. A.D.
176 792 228 842 280 893 332 943 384 994
177 793 229 843 28l 894 333 944 385 995
178 794 230 844 282 895 334 945 386 996
179 795 231 845 283 896 335 946 387 997
180 796 232 846 284 897 336 947 388 998
181 797 233 847 285 898 337 948 389 998
182 798 234 848 286 899 338 949 390 999
183 799 235 849 287 900 339 950 391 IOOO
184 800 236 850 288 900 340 95 i 392 IOOI
185 801 237 851 289 901 34 i 952 393 1002
186 802 238 852 29O 902 342 953 394 1003
187 802 239 853 29I 903 343 954 395 IOO4
188 803 24O 854 292 904 344 955 396 1005
189 804 24I 855 293 905 345 956 397 1006
190 805 242 856 294 906 346 957 398 1007
191 806 243 857 295 907 347 958 399 1008
192 807 244 858 296 908 348 959 400 1009
193 808 245 859 297 909 349 960 401 TOIO
194 809 246 860 298 910 350 961 402 IOI
195 810 247 86l 299 911 35 i 962 403 1012
196 811 248 862 3 °° 912 352 963 404 IOI3
197 812 249 863 301 913 353 964 405 IOI4
198 813 250 864 302 914 354 965 406 1015
199 814 251 865 303 915 355 965 407 IOl6
. 200 815 252 866 304 9l6 356 966 408 1017
201 816 253 867 305 917 357 967 409 IOl8
202 817 254 868 3°6 9l8 358 968 410 IOI9
203 818 255 868 307 919 359 969 411 1020
204 819 256 869 308 920 360 970 412 1021
205 820 257 870 309 921 361 971 4i3 1022
206 821 258 871 3 IQ 922 362 972 414 1023
207 822 259 872 3 “ 923 363 973 4i 5 1024
208 823 260 873 3 12 924 364 974 416 1025
209 824 26l 874 313 925 365 975 417 1026
210 825 262 875 3H 926 366 976 418 1027
211 826 263 876 3i5 927 367 977 419 1028
212 827 264 877 316 928 368 978 420 1029
213 828 265 878 3i7 929 369 979 421 1030
214 829 266 879 3i8 930 37 o 980 422 IO3O
215 830 267 880 3i9 931 37 i 981 423 IO3I
216 831 268 881 320 932 372 982 424 IO32
217 832 269 882 321 933 373 983 425 1033
218 833 270 883 322 933 374 984 426 1034
219 834 271 884 323 934 375 985 427 1035
220 835 272 885 324 935 376 986 428 IO36
221 835 2 73 886 325 936 377 987 429 1037
222 836 274 887 326 937 378 988 430 IO38
223 837 275 888 327 938 379 989 43 i IO39
224 838 276 889 328 939 380 990 432 IO4O
225 839 2 77 890 329 940 381 991 433 IO4I
226 840 278 891 330 941 382 992 434 IO42
227 841 279 892 33 i 942 383 993 435 1043
1 2
7 1 1
MUHAMMADAN AND CHRISTIAN ERAS. 36 7
A. D. A. H. A. D. A. H. A. D. A.H. A. D. A. D.
IO44 488 IO95 540 1145 592 1195 1246
IO45 489 1095 541 II46 593 1 196 1247
IO46 490 IO96 542 1147 594 1197 1248
IO47 491 1097 543 1 148
595 II98 I249
IO48 492 [O98 544 1149 596 1199 12^0
IO49 493 IO99 545 1150 597 1200 1251
ICKO 494 I IOO 546 II5I 598 1201 1252
IO51 495 I IOI 547 1152 599 1202 1253
IO52 496 1102 548 1153 600 1203 1254
1053 497 1103 549 1154 601 1204 1255
IO54 498 1104 550 1155 602 1205 1256
IO55 499 1105 55 i II56 603 1206 1257
IO56 5 °° 1 106 552 1157 604 1207 1258
1057 501 1107 553 1158 605 1208 1258
IO58 502 II08 554 1159 606 1209 1259
IO59 503 1109 555 Il6o 607 1210 1260
1060 504 IIIO 556 Il6o 608 1 21 1261
1061 505 IIII 557 Il6l 609 1212 1262
1062 506 1 1 1 558 Il62 6lO 1213 1263
1063 507 1 13 559 II63 6ll 1214 1264
IO63 508 14
I 1 560 1 164 6l2 1215 1265
IO64 509 III 5 561 II65 613 I2l6 1266
1065 5 io IIl6 562 Il66 6l4 1217 1267
1066 5 ii 1 1 1 563 Il67 615 I2l8 1268
1067 512 1 1 18 564 Il68 6l6 1219 1269
1068 5 i
3 1 1 19 565 H69 6l7 1220 1270
1069 5 i 4 1120 566 1170 6l8 1221 1271
1070 5 i
5 1121 567 1 1 7 6l9 1222 1272
1071 516 1122 568 1172 620 1223 1273
IO72 5 i 7 1123 569 ii 73 621 1224 1274
1073 518 1124 570 1174 622 1225 1275
IO74 5 i 9 1125 571 ii 75 623 1226 1276
IO75 520 1126 572 1176 624 1226 12 77
IO76 521 1127 573 1177 625 1227 1278
1077 522 1128 574 1178 626 1228 1279
IO78 523 1128 575 1179 627 1229 1280
IO79 524 IT 29 576 1180 628 1230 1281
1080 525 1130 577 1 181 629 1231 1282
1081 526 II 3 I 578 1182 630 1232 1283
1082 527 1132 579 1183 631 1233 1284
1083 528 1133 580 1184 632 1234 1285
1084 529 1134 58 i 1185 633 1235 1286
1085 530 1135 582 1186 634 1236 1287
1086 53 i II36 583 1187 635 1237 1288
1087 532 1137 584 1188 636 1238 1289
1088 533 II38 585 1 189 637 1239 1290
1089 534 1139 586 1190 638 I24O 1291
1090 535 II40 587 1191 639 I24I 1291
1091 536 II4I 588 1192 64O I242 1292
IO92 537 I I42 589 ii 93 64I 1243 1293
1093 538 1143 59 ° ii 93 642 I244 1294
IO94 539 1144 59 i 1194 643 1245 1295
MUHAMMADAN AND CHRISTIAN ERAS.
A. D. A.H. A.D. A.H. A.D. A.H. A.D. A. D.

1296 748 1347 800 1397 852 1448 I498
I297 749 1348 801 1398 &53 I449 1499
1298 75 ° 1349 802 1399 854 1450 1500
I299 75 i 135 ° 803 I4OO 855 ‘45 ‘ 1501
1300 752 1351 804 I4OI 856 1452 1502
13OI 753 1352 805 1402 857 ‘453 1503
1302 754 1353 806 1403 858 ‘454 1504
1303 755 ‘354 807 I404 859 ‘454 1505
1304 756 ‘355 808 1405 860 ‘455 1506
1305 757 ‘
35 6 809 I406 86l 1456 1507
1306 758 1356 8lO 1407 862 ‘457 1508
1307 759 ‘357 8ll I408 863 1458 1509
1308 760 1358 8l2 I409 864 ‘459 1510
I309 76l ‘359 813 I4IO 865 1460 I
5 II
1310 762 1360 814 I4II 866 I46l 1512
I 3 II 763 1361 815 1412 867 1462 1513
1312 764 1362 8l6 1413 868 1463 1514
1313 765 1363 817 1414 869 1464 1515
1314 766 1364 8l8 1415 87O I465 I5l6
1315 767 ‘365 819 I416 871 1466 I
5 I 7
I3l6 768 1366 820 1417 872 1467 1518
1317 769 ‘367 821 I418 873 1468 1519
1318 770 1368 822 1419 874 I469 1519
1319 771 1369 823 1420 875 1470 1520
1320 772 1370 824 1421 876 1471 1521
1321 773 i 37 i 825 1421 877 1472 1522
1322 774 1372 826 1422 878 ‘473 1523
1323 775 ‘373 827 1423 879 ‘474 1524
1323 776 ‘374 828 I424 880 ‘475 1525
1324 777 ‘375 829 I425 88l 1476 1526
1325 778 1376 830 1426 882 ‘477 1527
1326 779 ‘3 77 831 1427 883 1478 1528
1327 780 1378 832 I428 884 ‘479 1529
1328 78l ‘379 833 I429 885 1480 1530
1329 782 1380 834 1430 886 I48l i53i
1330 783 1381 835 1431 88 7 1482 1532
1331 784 1382 836 H 32 888 1483 1533
1332 785 1383 837 1433 889 1484 1534
1333 786 1384 838 1434 890 1485 1535
1334 787 1385 839 1435 891 I486 1536
1335 788 1386 840 1436 892 I486 1537
I33 6 789 1387 841 1437 893 1487 1538
1337 790 1388 842 1438 894 1488 1539
1338 791 1388 843 1439 895 1489 1540
1339 792 1389 844 1440 896 1490 1541
1340 793 1390 845 1441 897 1491 1542
I34I 794 1391 846 1442 898 1492 1543
1342 795 1392 847 1443 899 1493 1544
1343 796 ‘393 848 1444 900 1494 1545
1344 797 ‘394 849 1445 901 1495 1546
1345 798 ‘395 850 1446 902 1496 1547
1346 799 1396 851 1447 903 1497 1548
7 1
MUHAMMADAN AND CHRISTIAN ERAS, 369
A. D. A. H. A.D. A. H. A.D. A.H. A.D. A.D.

1549 1008 1599 1060 1650 1112 1700 1750
1550 IOO9 1600 Io6l 1650 1 1
13 1701 1751
1551 IOIO l6oi 1062 1651 III4 1702 1752
1551 ion 1602 1063 1652 III5 I703 1753
1552 IOI2 1603 IO64 1653 IIl6 1704 1754
1553 1013 1604 IO65 1654 1 1 1 1705 1755
1554 1014 1605 1066 1655 1118 1706 1756
1555 1015 1606 IO67 1656 1119 1707 1757
1556 1016 1607 1068 1657 1120 1708 1758
1557 1017 1608 1069 1658 1121 1709 1759
1558 1018 1609 1070 1659 1122 1710 I 760
1559 1019 l6lO 1071 1660 1123 1 7 1 I 76 l
1560 1020 l6ll 1072 l66l 1124 1712 1762

1561 1021 l6l2 1073 1662 1125 1713 1763
1562 1022 1613 IO74 1663 1126 1714 1764
1563 1023 1614 1075 1664 1127 1715 1765
1564 1024 1615 IO76 1665 1128 1715 1766
1565 1025 l6l6 10 77 1666 1129 1716 1767
1566 1026 1617 1078 1667 1130 1717 1768
1567 1027 1617 1079 1668 1131 1718 1769
1568 1028 I6l8 1080 1669 1132 1719 1770
1569 1029 1619 1081 1670 ii33 1720 i77i
1570 1030 1620 1082 1671 ii34 1721 1772
1571 IO3I 1621 1083 1672 ii35 1722 1773
1572 IO32 1622 1084 1673 1136 1723 1774
1573 1033 1623 1085 1674 ii37 1724 1775
1574 IO34 1624 1086 1675 1138 1725 1776
1575 1035 1625 1087 I676 ii39 1726 1777
1576 IO36 1626 1088 1677 1140 1727 1778
15 77 1037 1627 1089 1678 1141 1728 1779
1578 IO38 1628 1090 1679 1142 1729 1780
1579 IO39 1629 1091 1680 1143 1730 1780
1580 IO4O 1630 1092 l68l 1144 i73i I78l
1581 IO4I 1631 1093 1682 1145 1732 1782
1582 IO42 1632 1094 1682 1146 1733 1783
1583 1043 1633 1095 1683 1147 1734 1784
1584 IO44 1634 1096 1684 1 148 1735 1785
1585 IO45 1635 1097 1685 1149 1736 1786
1585 IO46 1636 1098 1686 1150 1737 1787
1586 IO47 1637 1099 1687 1151 1738 1788
1587 IO48 1638 1100 1688 1152 1739 1789
1588 IO49 1639 IIOI 1689 ii53 1740 1790
1589 IO50 1640 1102 1690 1154 1741 1791
1590 1051 1641 1103 1691 1155 1742 1792
1591 IO52 1642 1104 1692 1156 1743 1793
1592 1053 1643 1105 1693 1157 1744 1794
1593 IO54 1644 1106 1694 1158 1745 1795
1594 1055 1645 1107 1695 1159 1746 1796
1595 IO56 1646 1108 I696 1 r6o 1747 1797
1596 IO57 1647 1109 1697 1 161 1748 1798
1597 IO58 1648 I IIO I698 1162 1748 1799
1598 IO59 1649 nn 1699 1163 1749 1800
37o MUHAMMADAN AND CHRISTIAN ERAS*
A. H. A.D. A. H. A.D. A. H. A.D. A. H. A.D* A. H. A.D*

I2l6 l8oi 1239 1823 T262 1845 1285 1868 1308 1890
1217 1802 1240 1824 1263 I846 1286 1869 1309 1891
1218 1803 I24I 1825 1264 1847 1287 1870 1310 1892
1219 1804 1242 1826 1265 I848 1288 1871 I3II 1893
1220 1805 1243 1827 1266 1849 1289 1872 1312 1894
1221 1806 I244 1828 1267 1850 1290 1873 1313 1895
1222 1807 I245 1829 1268 1851 1291 1874 1314 1896
1223 1808 1246 1830 1269 1852 1292 1875 1315 1897
1224 1809 1247 1831 1270 1853 1293 1876 1316 1898
1225 l8lO 1248 1832 1271 1854 1294 1877 1317 1899
1226 l8ll 1249 1833 1272 1855 1295 1878 I318 19OO
1227 l8l2 1250 1834 1273 1856 1296 1878 1319 1901
1228 1813 1251 1835 1274 1857 1297 1879 1320 1902
1229 1813 1252 1836 I275 1858 1298 l88o 1321 1903
1230 1814 1253 1837 1276 1859 1299 l88l 1322 I904
1231 1815 1254 1838 12 77 i860 1300 1882 1323 1905
1232 l8l6 1255 1839 1278 l86l 1301 1883 1324 1906
1233 1817 1256 I84O 1279 1862 1302 1884 1325 1907
1234 l8l8 1257 I84I 1280 1863 1303 1885 1326 1908
1235 1819 1258 1842 1281 I864 1304 1886 1327 1909
I236 1820 1259 1843 1282 1865 1305 1887 1328 1910
1237 1821 1260 1844 1283 1866 1306 1888 I329 I9II
1238 1822 I26l 1845 1284 1867 1307 1889 1330 I9II
* 1
37i
PART II.
——
SECTION PAGE
I. —Alexandria, Pompey’s Pillar, the Catacombs,
Abukir, Rosetta, &c. ... ... ... ... 372
II. —Alexandria to Cairo ... ... ... ... 387
III. — Port Said, Ismalliyah, Suez, and the Suez

Canal 393
IV. — Port Said to Suez, via the Suez Canal ... 402
V. — Port Said to Cairo ... ... ... ... 407
VI. — Cairo ... ... ... ... ... ... 414
VII. — Cairo to Damietta, via Mansurah ... ... 499
VIII.— Cairo the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon

to ... ... 506
IX. — The Oases ... ... ... ... ... 51
X. — Cairo Mount Sinai

to ... ... ... ... 540
XI. — The Exodus ... ... ... ... 577
2 A 2
372
LOWER EGYPT.
—
Cook’s Office, 2, Rue Porte de Rosette.
(Hotels, see pp. 22, 23.)
ALEXANDRIA.— Electric Tramways in the town, starting from
the Place Mehemet Ali. Fares, 1st class 10 mill., 2nd class 5 mill. also ;
to Ramleh and Meks.

Post Office in the Rue de la Poste, open from 7 a.m. till 12 noon and
2 till 9.30 p.m.
Churches. — St. Mehemet Ali Sunday services, 8 and
Mark’s, Place :
11 a.m., and 6.15 p.m. All Saints’, Ramleh, 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.
American Mission, Rue Sidi el-Metwalli, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. St. Andrew’s
(Presbyterian), close to the Post Office; Sunday services, 10.30a m. and
6 p.m. Eglise Protestante Allemande-Franâise, close to the Egyptian
Post Office. Roman Catholic, St. Catherine, Rue Ste. Catherine.
—
British Consuls. Consul-General,' D. A. Cameron; Vice-Consul,
E. H. Mulock.
U.S. Consul.— D. R. Birch Vice-Consul, F. L. Romeo.
— ;
Clubs. Khedivial Club, 2, Rue Cherif Pacha Mehemet Ali, 2, Rue ;
Porte Rosette Union Club, 6, Rue Ancienne Bourse Alexandria Sporting

; ;
Club, at the Ibrahimieh, Ramleh.

Cabs (within the town) — I horse. 2 horse.
Mill. Mill.
Not exceeding 10 minutes ... ... 20 30
,, 20 ,, 25 40
>> 30
» .
30 50
Beyond half an hour 15 mill, for every quarter of an hour for a one-horse
cab, and 20 mill, for a two-horse cab. Extra between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
(From the interior to the exterior, or vice versa.)
These fares vary with time and distance (see local tariff).
The traveller from Europe or America who wishes to visit

Egypt may enter the country either by Alexandria or Port
Said. Formerly the majority of travellers disembarked at
Alexandria, for facilities for so doing were greater than at
Port Said, the hotels were better, and quick trains to Cairo
ran at comparatively frequent intervals. All the great mail
steamers called there, and the Indian and Australian mails
began their journey to Suez at Alexandria. In recent years it
has been found better to disembark the mails at Port Said,
and as travellers usually adopt mail routes, the passengers to
Port Sai‘d have greatly increased, while those to Alexandria
have diminished in number, and this notwithstanding the fact
that it takes some hours longer to reach Cairo from Port Said
than from Alexandria. The Suez Canal Company’s steam
tramway has been converted into a railway, and the time
COOK'S PLAN
ALEXANDRIA
37 2
—
TRADE OF ALEXANDRIA. 373
occupied in journeying from Port Sa‘id to Cairo has been

reduced from 7^ to about 5! hours. Though it is more con-
venient in many ways to enter Egypt via Port Sa‘id, there is a
great deal to be said for the traveller entering Egypt via.
Alexandria. No one would venture to assert that the attractions
of Alexandria, the Ptolemaic capital of Egypt, are equal to those
of Cairo, the Arab capital of the country, still the city has an
extremely well-defined interest of its own, and if the traveller does
not visit it at the beginning of, or early in, his stay in Egypt, he
is apt to find that at the end of his visit he has only a couple
of hours to devote to it, or he may even be obliged to leave

the country without seeing Alexandria at all. One or two days
are sufficient to see what is best worth seeing in Alexandria,
and less time is wasted if these are devoted to Alexandrian
antiquities at the beginning of a tour in Egypt, than in the
middle or at the end.
The population of the Municipality of Alexandria in 1897
was 300,172 souls, and 332,246 in 1907. The receipts of the
Municipality were in 1909 Ê. 2 5 6, 000, the expenditure was
Ê. 244,000, and the surplus Ê. 12,000. Some 93 per cent.,
orÊ. 45, 086, 410 of Egypt’s total trade, which was worth
Ê.48,306,738 1909, passed through the custom-house of
in
Alexandria. Of the imports and exports, 88 and 98 per cent,
respectively represent the amounts which passed through
Alexandria. The imports in 1908 were 2 2, 172,966, and
in 1909 Ê.T9, 493, 023. The imports from the British Empire
were worth in 1909 Ê. 6, 3 10,000. The exports in 1908 were
Ê.20,822,059, and in 1909 ^'E.25,573,413, The cotton
shipments were :
1907 ... Kantars 6,859,220, value 23,597,844

1908 ... „ 6,348,493 „ 17,091,612
T 9°9 6,952,477 21,477,739
» „
The expenditure on port and harbour works in 1909 was
Ê. 50, 850. About 8,403 vessels entered the port in 1909,
with a total tonnage of 4,507,409 tons ; of these, 2,034 were
steamships, with a total tonnage of 4,032,922 tons.
Alexandria, /.<?., the city of Alexander, was founded 332 b.c.
by Alexander III of Macedon, or Alexander I of Egypt, who
is commonly known as Alexander the Great. The site chosen
by him was close to the old Egyptian town called Raqetit,
hence the Coptic name Rakoti, and

was opposite the Island of Pharos, and was situated between
374 ALEXANDRIA.
Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean Sea. Alexander’s

object in building a city on this site is clear he intended it
:
to be easy of access for the Mediterranean merchant ships, and

to make it a central seaport of his empire, and there was no
other site anywhere in the Delta which was so suitable for the
purpose. The city, which was defended by a small guard, was
in the form of a soldier’s coat, and had one large and well-built
street running almost through the middle of the town. The
architect was called Deinocrates, and his plans were carried
out by Cleomenes of Naucratis, assisted by Heron, Krateros,
Hyponomos, and others. It is said that Alexander made all
the people within a distance of 30 miles come and live in
the new city, and that he called them “ Alexandrians.” As,
however, Alexander only spent about five months in Egypt, he
cannot have seen more than the foundations of Alexandria’s
walls and houses, and he can never have realized the importance
to which his city was to attain.
Ptolemy Soter made Alexandria his capital, nnd did a great
deal to develop the city; he founded the Museum and the
famous Alexandrian Library, and he brought numbers of
Jews to Alexandria and made them settle in the eastern
part of it;
these were followed by others who were tempted
“by the goodness of the soil, and by the liberality of
Ptolemy,” and the Jewish colony soon became a wealthy
and powerful element in the city. Ptolemy introduced into
Alexandria the worship of Hades, the Greek god of Death,
and caused to be ascribed to him the attributes of Osiris
and Apis, thus Hades became known as Osiris-Apis, or Serapis,
and a god was found whom both Greeks and Egyptians could
worship with one accord. Ptolemy II appointed first Zenodotus
of Ephesus to be Keeper of the Great Library, which is
said to have contained at that time 400,000, or according to
some 700,000 volumes, and afterwards Callimachus the poet,
who arranged and labelled the papyri. Ptolemy III added
largely to the great Library, and procured for it the original
MSS. of the works of ZEschylus, Euripides, and
Sophocles ;
the keepers in his reign were Aristophanes of
Byzantium and Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy after Ptolemy
added to the public buildings of Alexandria, and, thanks to
the energy and enterprise of both Greeks and Jews, the city
became one of the wealthiest in the world, and its inhabitants
were renowned for their learning and enlightenment. In
48 b.c. Julius Caesar succeeded in entering the city, but
;
THE PERGAMENIAN LIBRARY. 375
unfortunately, the tradition be true, the Library and Museum

if
were burnt to the ground. Antony, Caesar’s successor in the

affections of Cleopatra, is said to have attempted to make good
this loss by presenting to her the Pergamenian Library,
which was founded by Eumenes II, King of Pergamus 197 b.c.,
and was supposed to contain 200,000 MSS. During the
Roman Period Alexandria was frequently the scene of terrible
bloodshed and murder, and fighting between the Romans and
lews, and the Emperor Caracalla massacred large numbers of
Alexandrians, because some of the more ribald of them dared
to mock at his appearance and sacred person.
Tradition asserts that St. Mark began to preach Christianity
in Alexandria about a.d. 69, and the Coptic Church regards him
as the first Patriarch of Alexandria ; whether this be so or not
matters relatively little, for there is no doubt that there were
many Christians in that city at the beginning of the second
century. As their numbers grew they became the objects of
intense hate both of Romans and Jews, but their presence
was tolerated, and a century later they possessed a church and
schools, and learned men directed their lives and religion.
Under Decius, Valerianus, Diocletian, Julian the Apostate, and
other Emperors the Christians suffered severe persecution, and
neither peace nor security was to be enjoyed in the city for
about 100 years, i.e. r from about a.d. 250 to 360. Trade
began to decline in the third century, and when the Emperor
Constantine founded Constantinople, and made it take the
place of Alexandria as the chief eastern seaport of his empire,
the decay of the city was assured. In the reign of Theodosius I
the Christians attacked the pagans, and destroyed their statues,
and either burned their temples or turned them into churches
at the instigation of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria,
the temple and statue of Serapis were burnt in this reign.
The iniquitous behaviour of the Alexandrian Christians is well
illustrated by the murder of Hypatia, the daughter of Theon,
a modest, beautiful, and learned lady of Alexandria. She was
charged with having withdrawn the friendship of the prefect
Orestes from Cyril the Archbishop, and Peter the Reader and
a number of monks dragged her from her chariot into a church,
where they stripped her, scraped her flesh with metal combs,
and then tore her limb from limb. The disputes which raged
between Arius and Athanasius, George of Cappadocia and
Athanasius, Cyril and Nestorius, and the Anthropomorphists did
more to injure the city than a foreign army would have done,
376 ALEXANDRIA.
In 619 Alexandria was captured by Khusrau (Chosroes),

King of Persia, 10 years later Heraclius regained possession
of it, but in 641 it fell into the hands of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Asi,
the commander-in-chief of the Khalifah ‘Omar. For about
1,150 years Alexandria possessed but little importance, but
the bringing of the Mahmtidiyah Canal to the town by
Muhammad ‘Ali in 1819 helped to restore a little of its former
prosperity, and the docks built by Ismail Pasha have done a
great deal more.
When Alexandria was founded at Kakoti, the Island of
Pharos was separated from the mainland ; Ptolemy I, or his
son Ptolemy Philadelphus, built an embankment or causeway
which joined the two, and because it was seven stades long, the
name of Heptastadium was given to it. This embankment
has in the course of centuries been widened to such an extent
that the greater part of the modern city of Alexandria is built
upon it. The Heptastadium divided the harbour into two ; that
on the east was called the Great Harbour, and that on
the west Eunostos. It is the latter of these into which
modern ships of large tonnage enter, and here are found
the breakwater, which is if miles long, and the other harbour
works which Ismail Pasha constructed at a cost of ^2,500,000
sterling. The Great Harbour is very shallow, and can only be
used by fishing boats or craft of light draught. The Pharos,
or lighthouse of ancient Alexandria, was built on the island
opposite the city in the reign of Ptolemy II by Sostratus, the
Cnidian. It was built of white marble, and cost 800 talents, a
sum equal to, if the Alexandrian talent be referred to, about
^330,000 in our money; if the Attic talent is to be under-
stood the sum would be ^165,000. It is said that Sostratus
was allowed to add his name to the monument with that of
his royal master, and that he did so, saying,
u Sostratus, the
Cnidian, the son of Dexiphanes, to the gods, the saviours, for
the benefit of sailors.” This done he covered over his own
name with mortar, and in it cut the name of Ptolemy, intending,
when the mortar was dried and cracked, and had fallen out,
that his name should stand alone on the monument.
Both the Museum and Library of Alexandria were
probably founded by Ptolemy I. The Museum is said to have
occupied one quarter of the whole area of the city, and to have
been close to the palace; in connection with it were several
buildings which were devoted to the pursuit of learning, and
spacious gardens. The earliest Library was in the Brucheion,
;
MUSEUM AND LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA. 377
and seems to have been regarded as a part of the Museum ;

the
greatest additions to it were made by Ptolemy II, and it is
pretty certain that before the close of the rule of the Ptolemies
its papyrus rolls were numbered by hundreds of thousands.
In 48 b.c., when Julius Caesar was besieging the Brucheion
quarter, he set fire to the ships in the harbour, and, the flames
spreading, the Library was destroyed, and all its books with it.
Seneca says that 400,000 books were burned, and Ammianus
Marcellinus puts the number at 700,000. According to
Mr. A. J. Butler, the library of the kings of Pergamus, which
Mark Antony sent as a present to Cleopatra, and which con-
tained 200,000 rolls, was not lodged in the Museum buildings,
but in the temple of the Caesarion, which was begun by Caesar
and finished by Augustus ; a part may have gone to the
Serapeum. The Serapeum was built to hold the statue of
Serapis, and stood to the east of Rakoti, near Pompey’s Pillar
it is said to have been one of the most beautiful buildings
in the world, and to have been filled with remarkable statues

and works of art. That some of the Museum buildings
remained for a considerable time after the destruction of the
first Library is quite certain, and it is nearly as certain that
another great Library was founded in the Serapeum, and we

know from Epiphanius that it was called the Daughter Library.
The Caesarion Library probably perished in 366, and the
Serapeum Library was, no doubt, destroyed by the Christians
under Theophilus the Patriarch, when they destroyed the image
of Serapis, and razed his temple to the ground. Some believe
that this Library was not destroyed, and that it survived until
the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs ; this belief rests on the
statement of Bar Hebraeus, born a.d. 1226, died 1286.
According to this writer, there was in Egypt at the time of the
conquest a man called John the Grammarian, who possessed
influence among the Arabs. By some means he was able to
make himself known to Amr ibn al-‘Asi, and after the
capture of Alexandria, he ventured to beg for the books of
wisdom which were among the Imperial treasures. Amr was,
however, unable to grant the request without the Khalifah’s
orders, so he wrote to ‘Omar, and received this answer “ As :
concerning the books which you mention, if what is written

in them is consistent with the Book of God (/>., the Kur’an),
they are not wanted ; if they be opposed thereto, they are not
wanted. Therefore destroy them.” Thereupon, says Bar
Hebraeus, the books were sent to the bath furnaces in
— ;
378 ALEXANDRIA.
Alexandria, and it took six months to burn them as fuel.

This story appears in writing five and a half centuries
first
after the capture of Alexandria, but it had been current in an
unwritten form apparently for centuries ; the Copts believe
the story even to this day, though they reduce the 180 days of
book-burning to 70. Mr. Butler brings forward many common-
sense objections to the story, the chief being that John the
Grammarian must have been dead several years before the
Arabs captured Alexandria. On the other hand, ancient
traditions usually have a kernel of truth in them, however
small, and there is no reason why this tradition should form
an exception. In the face, however, of tradition and facts, and
at this distance of time from the event, we can only say,
with the Arabs themselves, “ God knoweth the truth.”
Other important buildings in Alexandria were The : —
Theatre, which faced the little island of Antirrhodus in
the Great Harbour ; the Soma, or Mausoleum, which con-
tained the bodies of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies
the Gymnasium and Paneum, which stood a little to the
south-east of the Museum ; the Caesarion, or Palace of
Caesar, which stood a little to the north-east of the Library ;
a temple of Artemis, in the Lochias quarter, and a temple
of Isis on the island of Pharos. The Jews lived in the
eastern half of the city, beyond which were the Hippodrome
and the cemetery; in Christian times the Catacombs were
on the west of the city. The eastern entrance of Alexandria
was called the Canopic Gate, or the Sun-gate. The most
interesting remains to be seen now are :
1. Pompey’s Pillar, a striking monument made of

granite. The shaft is about 70 feet high, and is fluted, and
the capital is ornamented with palm leaves ; the whole monu-
ment, including its pedestal, is between 90 and 100 feet high.
About the history of have been many disputes,
this pillar there
and for a long time it supposed that it was set up in
was
honour of Pompey the Great. It has, however, now been
shown that it belongs to the reign of Diocletian, and that it
was erected in 302 by the Prefect of Egypt, who appears
to have been called Pompey. According to one view, the
pillar was the outcome of the gratitude of the Alexandrians
to Diocletian, who decreed that a portion of the tribute of corn
which was sent from Egypt to Rome should be applied to
the relief of the wants of the Alexandrians. On the top of
the pillar stood a statue of the Emperor Diocletian.
THE CATACOMBS. 379
2. The Catacombs lie on the west of the city, and contain

many tombs of interest they are built on the site
;
of the
old Ptolemaic Necropolis, and range in date from the first
to the fourth century a.d.
3. In the year 1900 a magnificent tomb of the Roman period
was discovered at Kom ash-Shukafah, near Pompey’s Pillar, in
the quarry at this place, by some workmen, and thanks to the
exertions of Dr. Botti, the Director of the Museum at
Alexandria, this extremely interesting monument has been
preserved in the state in which it was found. The tomb is
divided into three stages, which descend into the living rock.
It is entered by means of a circular staircase (a), which has
been more or less restored, and when the visitor has passed
through a narrow way with a semicircular recess (b) on each
side, he arrives at a large rotunda (c) with a circular gallery
(dddd), out of which open a series of chambers (eeee) which
appear to have been dedicated to the worship of the dead.
On the right the two chambers contain niches and sarcophagi *
on the left is a large rectangular chamber, the roof of which is

supported by four pillars, and it contains three tables hewn
out of the solid rock, which were used for festival purposes by
the relatives and friends of the dead who assembled there at
certain times during the year. From the circular gallery a
staircase leads to the second stage of the tomb, which contains
the chief sarcophagus chamber ; but a little way down it forks,
and passes round the entrance (g) to the third or lowest stage
of the tomb. The ante-chamber (h) of the tomb, or pronaos,
contains two Egyptian columns which support a cornice
ornamented with the winged solar disk, hawks, &c., in relief.
In each of the side walls of the chamber is a niche, in the
form of an Egyptian pylon ; that on the right contains the statue
of a man, that on the left the statue of a woman, It has been
thought that these niches are ancient openings in the walls
which were closed up for the purpose of receiving the statues,
The door of the actual funeral chamber (1) is ornamented
with the winged solar disk, and a cornice of uraei ; on each
side of the door, on a pylon-shaped pedestal, is a large serpent
wearing the double crown and with each are the caduceus
of Hermes andthe thyrsus of Dionysos. These serpents are
probably intended to represent the goddesses Uatchet and
Nekhebet. Above each serpent i$ a circular shield with a
Gorgon’s head.
38°
ALEXANDRIA.
A. Circular staircase (entrance). B. Corridor with semicircular recesses.

C. Rotunda. D. Circular gallery. E. Chambers. F. Staircase to second stage.
G. Entrance to third stage. H. Ante-chamber. I. Funeral chamber. J. Sarco-
phagus chamber. K. Funeral chambers with cavities for dead bodies.
THE CATACOMBS. 381
roof of the funeral chamber is vaulted, and the stone

The
is of the colour of old gold ; at each corner is a pilaster
with a composite capital. In each of the three sides is a
The Pronaos and Entrance to the Funeral Chamber.
niche containing a sarcophagus, which is hewn out of the

solid rock ; the fronts of the three sarcophagi are ornamented
with festoons of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, the heads
382 ALEXANDRIA.
of bulls, heads of Medusa, &c. Curiously enough no one

seems to have been laid in them. In the principal relief of
the right niche we see the figure of a king, or prince, wearing
the crowns of the South and North, making an offering of a deep
collar or breastplate to the Apis Bull, which stands on a pylon-
shaped pedestal, and has a disk between its horns ; behind
Apis stands Isis with a solar disk encircled by a urseus upon
her head, and holding in her right hand the feather of Maat.
The walls of the niches are ornamented with figures of
Egyptian gods, and in the central niche is a scene in which the
mummy of the deceased is represented lying upon its bier.
The bier has the usual form but above the lion’s head
isthe Atef crown of Osiris, and at the feet is the feather of
Maat. By the side of the bier stands Anubis, with the solar
disk and uraei on his head ;
at the head of the bier stands
Thoth, and Horus, and under the bier are vases
at the feet is
containing the intestines of the deceased dedicated to
Qebhsenuf (hawk-headed), Kesta (human-headed), and
Hapi (ape-headed). To the right and left of the door are
figures of :
—
1. Anubis, standing upright, in human form,
jackal-headed, with a solar disk on his head ; his right hand
rests upon the edge of a shield which stands on the ground by
his side, and in his left he clasps a spear ; round his neck and
shoulder hangs a belt from which is suspended a short sword.
2. Set (?), in the form of a human body with arms and hands
of a man, and the head and tail of a crocodile ; in his right
hand he clasps a spear, and in the left the end of a cloak.
Round the funeral chamber in which these reliefs occur, on
three sides, is a comparatively spacious gallery, in the walls of
which are hollowed-out cavities, each large enough to hold
three dead bodies ; there are traces of the names of those who
were buried in them. At the north-west corner of this gallery
is a corridor which leads into four other chambers, two of
which have in them niches for sarcophagi, and two are pro-
vided with cavities wherein bodies might be laid on stone slabs
at intervals, one above the other. We
have already mentioned
a third stage of the tomb, which was approached by an
entrance situated just below the place where the staircase
leading from the first to the second stage forked ; this is now
filled with water, and cannot be investigated. The tomb is
the most interesting of all the tombs of the Roman period
which have been found in Alexandria, and is very instructive.
THE CATACOMBS. 383
It is, unfortunately, impossible to assign an exact date to it,

but it was probably built in the first century b.c. or the first
century a.d. The name for the man for whom it was built is
unknown, but it is clear that he was of high rank, and there
is no doubt that his religion was an fond Egyptian. The
artistic treatment of the figures of the gods, and of the walls,
pillars, &c., exhibits strong Roman influence, and the mixture
of the two styles of funereal art is better illustrated in this tomb
than in any other of the period to which it belongs. It is
hard to explain why the sarcophagi in the niches of the main
funeral chamber have not been occupied by the people for
whom they were intended, and it is difficult to understand why
others were made in other chambers of the tomb whilst these
remained empty. It would appear that the tomb was made
for the head of a large and powerful family, the members of
which respected the places that had been left for certain
members of it, and judging from the amount of space for burial
which was actually occupied, we are justified in thinking that
the tomb was used as a private mausoleum for about 150 or
200 years.
In recent years a number of important excavations have
been carried on in Alexandria by Dr. Botti, Mr. D. G. Hogarth,
and others, and several important monuments have been
brought to light, but the additions to what was known of the
site of the ancient city have been few. It is pretty certain
that there is little hope of finding any remains of the building
of the great Library, Serapeum, etc., and as each year the
builder and the sea cover up a good deal of ground, the outlook
for the archaeological excavator is not good. To preserve such
remains the Egyptian Government founded the Museum of
Graeco = Roman Antiquities at a cost of Ê.10,000; it is
maintained by the Municipality at an annual expenditure of

Ê.1,200. Herein are exhibited several interesting monu-
ments of the Ptolemaic Period and of the early centuries of the
Christian Era. Already the collection fills nearly a score of
rooms, and Dr. Botti’s Catalogue of the Monuments in them
forms a most useful guide to the traveller. An archaeological
library also has been formed in the institution, and it already
contains several thousands of volumes printed in various
ancient and modern languages.
Among places which may be visited if time permits are
Meks, on the sea-coast to the south-west of the city, and
Ramleh, on the coast to the north-east. The pair of granite
"
3^4 Cleopatra's needle.
obelisks which were brought from Heliopolis and set up before

the Caesarion, and are commonly known as “ Cleopatra’s
Needles,” stood near the railway station for Ramleh. The
larger obelisk was given to the British by Muhammad ‘Ali early
in the nineteenth century, but was not taken to England until
[877, when the expense of transport was defrayed by the late
Sir Erasmus Wilson ; after an eventful voyage it arrived in
London, and now stands on the Thames Embankment. The
second obelisk, which was given to the Americans, now stands
in New York. The obelisks were made for Thothmes III, but
Rameses II added inscriptions to them in which he recorded
his titles of honour and greatness. On the pedestal of
“ Cleopatra's Needle" the Earl of Cavan caused the following
inscription to be cut
In the Year of the Christian Era 1798, The Republic of France
| |
Landed on the Shores of Egypt an Army of 40,000 Men, Commanded|
by their most able and successful Bonaparte, | The Conduct of the j
General and the Valour of the Troops, Effected the entire subjection of
|
that Country | But under Divine Providence it was reserved for the British
;
Nation To annihilate their ambitious Designs.

|
Their Fleet was attacked,
|
defeated, and destroyed, in Aboukir Bay, | By a British Fleet of equal

Force, |
Commanded by Admiral Lord Nelson. | Their intended conquest
of Syria was counteracted at Acre By a most gallant Resistance under
|
Commodore Sir Sidney Smith ;

And Egypt was rescued from their
|
Dominion By a British Army, inferior in Numbers, but | Commanded by

|
General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Who landed at Aboukir on the 8th ot

|
March 1801, Defeated the French on several Occasions, Particularly in a

| |
most decisive Action near Alexandria | On the 21st of that Month, When|
they were driven from the Field, and forced to shelter themselves | In
their Garrisons of Cairo and Alexandria, | Which Places subsequently
surrendered by Capitulation. | To record to Future Ages these Events; |
And to commemorate the Loss sustained by the Death of Sir Ralph |
Abercrombie, | Who was mortally wounded on that memorable Day, | Is

the design of this Inscription.
|
Which was deposited here in the year of
Christ 1802 By the British Army on their evacuating this country, And
| |
restoring it to the Turkish Empire.
Those who are interested in the modern history of Egypt may

visitthe village of Abukir, near which the Battle of the Nile
was fought on August 1st, 1798. Horatio Nelson engaged the
French Admiral Brueys and captured nine of the enemy's line-
of-battle ships and burned two. The French ship “ L'Orient
blew up with Brueys and 1,000 on board, and only about 80
escaped. At this place on July 25th, 1799, Napoleon with
5,000 soldiers defeated the Turkish army of 25,000 men ; on
March 8th, 1801, Sir Ralph Abercromby defeated the French
here, and Abukir fell into the hands of the British. About
3 miles from Abukir are the ruins of the city of Canobus,
ROSETTA. 385
or Canopus, which stood mouth of the Canopic arm

at the
of the Nile. At god Canopus, in the form of
this place the
a vase with a human head, was worshipped, and the Ptolemies
built a temple there to Serapis. A legend declares that
Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus, died and was buried here on
the return of the Achaeans from Troy some derive the name
;
of the town from this hero, but it is far more likely that the
name of the town was called after the god Canopus. In old
days a manufactory of henna the dye used by women in staining
,
the nails of their hands and feet, stood here. In the reign of
Ptolemy III the priests of Canopus promulgated a decree in
which they enumerated the benefits conferred on the country
by the king, and ordered that certain festivals, etc., were to
be celebrated in his honour. The decree was drawn up in
two forms of Egyptian writing, i.e., hieroglyphics and demotic,
and in Greek, and copies of it were ordered to be set up in
the great temples of the land. Three copies of the decree
have been discovered, and the largest and finest .of these
monuments was found at San in the eastern Delta.
Some 30 miles further on the line is the town of Rashid, or
Rosetta, which marks roughly the site of the ancient city
of Bolbitine, and stands near the mouth of the main western
branch of the Nile. Rosetta was taken by the French in
1798, and by the British and Turks on April 19th, 1801 ; the
Turks repulsed the British here on April 22nd, 1807. In the
reign of Ptolemy V the priests of Memphis promulgated a
decree similar in many ways to the decree of Canopus it
;
enumerated the great benefits which the king had conferred on

the country, and ordered that certain honours should be paid
to his statues in the temples of Egypt. The last paragraph
commanded that copies of the decree, written in the three forms
of writing mentioned above in connection with Canopus,
should be set up in all the great temples of Egypt. The
last portion of the Decree reads :
—
“ And the priests of all
“ the temples which are called after his name shall have, in
“ addition to all the other priestly titles which they may
“ possess, the title of Servant of the god who maketh
‘
“
himself manifest, whose deeds are beautiful ; [ and this title
‘ ’
“ shall be endorsed on all deeds and documents which are laid

“ up in the temples\ \ and they shall cause to be engraved on
“ the rings which they wear on their hands, the title of Liba-
4
“
tioner of the god who maketh himself manifest, whose deeds
‘
‘are beautiful.’ And behold, it shall be in the hands of those

44
3 86 THE DECREE.
“ who live in the country, and those who desire [it], to establish
“ a copy of the shrine of the god who maketh himself manifest,
“ whose deeds are beautiful, and set it up in their houses, and
“ they shall be at liberty to keep festivals and make rejoicings
“ [before it] each month and each year ; and in order to make
“ those who are in Egypt to know [why it is that the Egyptians
“ pay honour —
as it is most right and proper to, do to the — '
“ god who maketh himself beautiful zuhose deeds are beautiful

,
“ the priests have decreedfj that this Decree shall \be inscribed
]
“ upon a stele of hard stone in the writing of the words of the
“ gods, and the writing of the books, and in the writing of
“ Haui-Nebui (/.£., Greeks), and it shall be set up in the
“ sanctuaries in the temples which [are called] by his name,
“ of the first, second, and third [class], near the statue
“ of the Horus, the King of the South and North
r
,
ever-living, beloved of Ptah ],
the god who
“ maketh himself manifest, whose deeds are beautiful.”
In obedience to this command the priests of Rosetta set up

a copy of the decree of Memphis, inscribed on a slab of basalt,
and a large portion of this slab was found by M. Boussard,
a French Engineer Officer, in 1799, and was afterwards
obtained for the British by the Treaty of Alexandria. This
copy of the Memphis Decree is known as the Rosetta Stone,
and from it was obtained the correct clue to the decipherment
of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone is in the
British Museum.
387
II.— ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO

Between Alexandria and Cairo are passed several of the
most important towns in the Western Delta. Immediately
on leaving the city the railway runs by the shore of Lake
Maryut, the Mareotis of the classical writers, and the Merit
of the hieroglyphic texts, where Hathor and
Sebek were worshipped. The country around was famous

for its wine, and the Egyptians described it as the “ vineyard
of Amen ” it was watered by the Nile, and large numbers of
;
fishermen and carriers lived there. During the Middle Ages

large portions of the lake dried up, and the inhabitants of the
country round about settled on the old lake-bed, and built
villages there. During the war between the French and the
British (1798-1801), the latter, knowing that the land round
Alexandria was below sea-level, cut through the narrow strip
of land between the sea and Lake Mareotis, and inundated the
country with salt water. The villages were destroyed, and
thousands of people were rendered homeless by this foolish,
not to say wasteful, act. It can only be paralleled by the deed
of the Alexandrians who, when Caesar was besieging the city
of Alexandria, let the sea into the cisterns of fresh water from
which the inhabitants drank. The sea was let into Mareotis
by a breach cut near Abukir. In recent years the drainage of
Lake Abukir has been begun, and it is said that when this
has been effected, an attempt will be made to reclaim all the
land which the British submerged. Incidentally a slight
benefit has accrued to Egypt from the submersion, for during
the summer pure white salt formed in layers 3 or 4 inches
thick, and, salt being formerly a Government monopoly, some
addition to the revenue was obtained.
The village of Kafr Ad = Dawar, with 2,065 inhabitants, is
passed about mile 17, and at mile 39 we arrive at Daman =
hur, a town the inhabitants of which are engaged for the most
part in the cotton trade. Its population in 1907 was 109,722.
The town marks the site of the Egyptian town Temai-en-
Heru, c=>||](j ,
which the Romans called Hermo-
polis Parva. Daman hur is the capital of the province of
Baherah, and is a prosperous place, being an important cotton
centre. There is’ little of interest in the town, and the mosques
are not very attractive.
2 b 2
3 88 NAUCRATIS, SAIS.
West of the railway at about mile 50 is the village of Nabirah,

with 2,000 inhabitants, and quite close to it are series of
mounds which mark the site of Naucratis, a city in which
the Greeks were permitted to settle and trade by the kings of
the XXVIth dynasty, who bestowed upon them many privileges.
The Egypt Exploration Fund carried on a series of excava-
tions at Nabirah in 1884-5, and the results are described in
the Third Memoir published in 1888. The ruins do not repay
the traveller who visits them for his time as they are four
miles from the railway. At mile 54 is Atiai al-Barud, com-
monly called Teh = AS =Barud, a village with about 89,471
inhabitants ; there are in the neighbourhood several mounds
which probably contain the remains of Ptolemaic or Roman
towns, but none appears to have been explored.
At mile 64 Kafr Az = zayyat, a town on the east side of
the Rosetta arm of the Nile, with nearly 170,076 inhabitants,
is reached. The town is prosperous and thriving, but has little
interest for those who are not occupied with the study of
native character and customs. From Kafr Az-zayyat a journey
may be easily made by river to the mounds at Sa al-Hagar,
which mark the site of Sais, the Saut, ,
of
the hieroglyphic inscriptions. They lie on the east side of the

Rosetta arm of the Nile, and prove that Sais, the home of the
kings of the XXVIth dynasty, must have been a large and a
thriving city. The chief deity of Sais was the goddess Net, or
Neith, to whom were ascribed all the powers of a self-produced
deity. The city was raised artificially above the level of the
surrounding country, and its walls were 100 ft. high and 70ft. thick.
The kings Amasis and Psammetichus were buried there. The
mysteries of Neith or Isis were performed on the lake behind
the temple of the goddess, who was made to declare, “ I am what
hath been, what is, and what will be”; they were, no doubt, a sort
of sacred play in which scenes connected with the incidents of the
death and sufferings of Osiris were represented. The temple of
Neith, or Minerva, as the classical writers called her, must have
been a wonderful building, and it won the admiration of Hero-
dotus, who appears to have been much impressed with all that he
heard about Sais. From Sa al-Hagar by steamer down the arm
of the Nile to Rosetta is an easy journey, and the traveller may
obtain many interesting examples of Delta scenery on the way.
*
Tanid .
British Consular Agent, J. Inglis.

About mile 57 we arrive at Janta, a town which in 1907
TANTA. 389
had a population of 255,465 souls; it is the capital of the

great province of Gharbiyah, and is a great commercial; social,
and religious centre. From Tanta railways run to Manstirah on
the north east and to Menuf on the south-west, and to Benha,
and in way the town is easily accessible from all parts.
this
From one point of view it has a holy character, and Muham-
madans flock thither from outlying and seaport villages, and
from the Western Delta, their object being to pay their vows
at the tomb of Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi, a famous saint who
was born at Fez in Morocco in the twelfth century, and who
lived for many years at Tanta, and died there. A mosque has
been built there in his name, and folk having sicknesses of all
kinds come to his tomb for healing. The festivals of this saint
are three in number one is observed in January, one at the
:
end of March, and one in the beginning of August, but the

last named is the greatest of all. Each festival begins on
a Friday and ends on the next Friday. The inhabitants
of Tanta are somewhat fanatical at the best of times, but
during the August festival they become much more so, for
the whole town is given over to riotous rejoicings of every
description, all the ordinary business of life is suspended, and
clowns and buffoons of every class fill the main streets and open
spaces of the town, and carry the revelry far into each night
of the festival. In some quarters the scenes are indescribable.
In view of the great interest which has recently been
taken in the Tomb of Shekh Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi the
following facts about his life may be useful. Abu al- ‘Abbas
Ahmad ibn ‘All al-Badawi was descended from Muhammad
the Prophet on both his father’s and mother’s side. He was
born at Fez in Morocco, whither his parents had emigrated
during the time of Al-Haggag, who was slaying the Ashraf, or
noble families in Mecca, towards the end of the Xllth century
of our era. When he was seven years old his father took him
back to Mecca (1206), and the whole family were welcomed
by the inhabitants; here he lived until his father died in 1229.
He was of so bold and fearless a disposition that he was nick-
named Al-Badawi, i.e., the desert man ” and the “ destroyer.”
‘f
He was deeply versed in the Kur’an, and, after several years

of profound study, adopted the life of a saint and became
a recluse ; he shunned society of all kinds, avoided conversa-
tion with his fellow-men, and having taken a vow of silence
only talked to his friends by means of signals. In 1235 he
saw three visions in one night, and in each of them a being
39 ° SAYYID AHMAD AL-BADAWi.
appeared and said to him, “ Arise, young man, and get thee to
the place of sunrise, and when thou hast reached it, get thee
to the place of sunset. And thou shalt go to Tanta, and there
shalt thou live.” In obedience to these commands he rose up,
and, having told his relatives what he had seen, went to
‘Irak, where he was welcomed by the shekhs. Having
visited the tombs of the saints, he set out for Umm
Obedah,
where there lived a courtesan of great renown and beauty
called Fatma bint Barfi ; he visited her, and preached to her,
and she repented. Ahmad then left for Egypt and went to
Tanta, where he took up his abode in the house of Shekh
Shuhet. He went up to the roof and lived there, and spent
his days and nights in gazing fixedly at the heavens. At
length the pupils of his eyes turned from black to a fiery red,
and they blazed like fire. It is said that he took neither food
nor drink, and slept not for forty days at a time. Subsequently,
he left the roof of the house and went to the village of Fisha,
where a certain man called ‘Abd al-‘All became his disciple.
Ahmad wore two veils, so that his glances, which were said to
be death-dealing, might not injure those on whom he looked.
One man insisted on seeing his face, and having done so fell
sick and died. Ahmad was tall of stature, with thick legs and
long arms. His face was large, his eyes black, his nose
aquiline, his skin brown ; on his face were three smallpox
marks, and on his nose two black spots, one on each side.
He wore his turban and clothes until they dropped off him.
His fame was great, and on his birthday Muhammadans came
to visit him from all parts of the^ East. He died in 1276,*
having nominated Shekh ‘Abd al-‘All his successor.
The Mosque of Ahmad at Tanta is a fine and imposing
building, and its courts and halls are of grand dimensions.
The tomb of the saint is surrounded by a fine brass railing,
with a massive gate, which is thronged with men and women,
who, in turn, grasp the handles, and invoke the saint’s help.
The men ask his blessing on their business undertakings, and
the women pray for children. On the right-hand side of the
gate is a large wooden, metal-bound chest, with a slot, through
which the visitors to the mosque drop their offerings. About
Ê.35,000 are collected yearly in this box, chiefly in small
* I these facts to Mr. Elias G. Aggane, of Tanta, and to Dr. Murad,
owe
of the same town. The former gentleman obtained permission for me to go
through the Mosque of the Saint, and showed the interesting objects which
are preserved in it. The visit was a most interesting one, and the scenes
which we saw in the Courts of the Mosque were extremely instructive.
—
THE AMERICAN MISSION HOSPITAL. 39 1
coin, and the widow’s mite (which in this case is one para ,
/>., one-fourth of a farthing !) ranks equally with the gold coin

of the cotton merchant. On the walls of the tomb-chamber are
several beautiful large tiles, with extracts from the Kur‘an on
them, and in one corner is a stone with deep hollows impressed
in it, which are said to have been caused by the Prophet’s foot.
A portion of the hair of the Prophet is treasured in the mosque.
The mimbar or pulpit, is a fine object. All day long the
,
courts are crowded with pupils and students, who sit in circles
on the floor round learned Mullahs as they explain the Kur‘an,
and take voluminous notes. The teaching here is carried on
just as in the great Mosques of Damascus, Baghdad, Kadem,
and Karbala, and the Mosque of Ahmad is undoubtedly the
stronghold of uncompromising Muhammadanism in Egypt, and,
it may be added, of fanaticism. The students of the Mosque
number about 5,000. In the mosque are also the tombs of
‘Abd 11 and his brethren, and the tomb of Shekh Mugahid.
al-‘
The bodies of the dead are sometimes carried into the

mosque to receive Ahmad’s blessing before burial.
The American Mission Hospital. Within spacious
grounds, in a fine location to the north of the city, are the new
and commodious buildings of the Tanta Hospital. The
hospital wards are located in two roomy buildings, along the
entire length of which extend wide verandahs shaded from the
hot sun by tiled roofs. In another building near these are
the kitchens, &c., and the nurses’ quarters. At the front is the
administration building, which also contains the residence of the
physicians ; and on the ground floor are the rooms where a
clinic is daily held, when hundreds receive treatment, a great
many of them coming especially for eye diseases. Here also
the patients receive religious instruction while waiting for
treatment. This institution was opened in 1904, and is unique
among the hospitals of Egypt in that it is intended solely for
the treatment of women and children. Some hundreds
are received annually as in-patients, and thousands are treated
at the daily clinics.The physicians are women, assisted by a
corps of American and English trained nurses, the first Director
being Dr. Lawrence, an American lady. The hospital was
built with money contributed entirely by women and children
in the United States, and from these it receives its support. In
addition to the medical and surgical treatment given, an effort
is made to instruct the wives and mothers in the principles of
cleanliness and hygiene, and in the care and feeding of children.

39 2 KALYUB.
In 1909 the number of patients admitted was 446 ; number of

operations, 174 ;
number of visits to clinic, 14.051 ; house visits,
978 ; village visits, 75 ; villages visited, 24 ; obstetrical cases, 37.
At mile 101 we arrive at the important junction of Benha
(population 15,182), or more fully Benha al-‘Asal, i.e., “ Benha
of the Honey,” so called because formerly it was famous for its
honey, a pot of which is said to have been sent to Muhammad
the Prophet by the Copt Makawkas, who betrayed the fortress
of Babylon to the Arabs. Benha is the capital of the province
Kalyub, and had in 1897 a population of 8,462 inhabitants.
Close to the town are a number of mounds which mark the
site of the ancient city of Athribis. The ancient town
was founded by the Egyptians, who called it Het-ta-her-abt,
@ “the temple of the middle land,” or

nr~3 O ®
the temple in the province between the two great arms
of the Nile, and was an important place under the Ptolemies,
who enlarged it and set up many splendid buildings in it. In
the fourth century of our era it was held by Ammianus
Marcellinus to be one of the largest cities in the Delta. In
Christian times a beautiful church stood here: it was 250 feet
long, it contained 160 pillars, the sculptured sanctuary was
ornamented with gold and silver, and in it was a figure of the
Virgin inlaid with precious stones, and arrayed in silk, and
close by were portraits of Michael, Gabriel, and other saints.
The gold and silver lamps burned continually. The chief
deity worshipped here by the Egyptians was the goddess
Hathor, and the Christians appear to have transferred many of
her attributes to the Virgin Mary.
At mile 120 is the town of Kalyub, with a population of
16,798 inhabitants, the capital of a district. From this town
runs the main line to Zakazik, in a north-easterly direction, and
a short line, which runs due west, will take the traveller to the
Barrages, which were designed and partly built by Mougel Bey,
and finished by Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff and Sir W. Willcocks.
The Barrages are usually reached by train from Cairo to the
station of Al-Menashi, on the western bank of the Nile,
little
or by steamer from Cairo. After Kalyub the railway runs

nearly due south, and in a very short time the traveller has
passed through the verdant suburbs to the north of the capital,,
and at mile 130 he enters Cairo.
—
393
III.— PORT SA ID, ISMA‘iLIYAH, SUEZ, AND

THE SUEZ CANAL.
Cook’s Office, Quai Fraiôis- Joseph.
PORT S A ‘ID.— Post Offices in the Rue Sultan Osman (Egyptian)
and Rue Quai du Nord (French).
Telegraph Office of the Eastern Telegraph Co. on the Quai Francois-
Joseph.
Tramways through the town and to the Arab quarter and cemetery.
Cabs. — By the course, 80 centimes extra at night, per hour 2 francs, at
night 2J francs.
British Consuls.— Consul-General, E. C. Blech, C.M.G., Vice-
Consul, T. D. Dunlop.
U.S. Consular Agent, H. Broadbent.
—
Churches. Church of the Epiphany; Ste. Eugenie (R.C.)
Port Sa‘id is a town of very recent growth, and it owes its
being entirely to the Suez Canal ; in 1907 its population was

49,884, but the number must be far higher now, for in recent
years large numbers of houses have been built there, and the
inhabitants have increased greatly. About forty years ago
the site on which Port Safid now stands was a spot whereon
dwelt a few Arabs, who gained their livelihood as fishermen.
When the engineers of the Suez Canal Company commenced
operations on this narrow strip of sand there was barely suffi-
cient room to erect a few tents and sheds. At first wooden
houses, raised on piles, were constructed ; and the dredgings
from the harbour and from the channel leading to the mouth
of the canal were employed for reclaiming and extending this
sand-bank. When the site for a port in the Mediterranean, at
the entrance to the Suez Canal, had to be selected, it was
difficult to find on the flat shore a spot possessing some natural
advantages that might prove of use in the construction of
a harbour. The reason which finally led the Company’s
engineers to select the position which Port Safid now occupies
was that the line of deep water was found to be less distant
—
from the shore at that point 30 feet of water at 2,870 yards
than at any other in the vicinity of that part of the Gulf of
Pelusus. The port is formed by two breakwaters or moles ;
the western mole is about 2,726 yards long, and the eastern
1,962 yards, and the area which they enclose is triangular, and
about 550 acres. These moles are 26 yards wide at the
base, 12 yards high, 6 yards wide on the summit, and the
394 HISTORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL.
slope of the sides is i in i. Each block weighs 22 tons, and

cost about £17. At the entrance to the port the depth of
water is 30 but the uniform depth of water in the harbour
feet,
is 26 feet. On the west mole is a lighthouse nearly 180 feet
high, and the flash of its electric light can be seen on a clear
night at a distance of about 20 miles. Beyond the lighthouse,
on the same mole, is a fine statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps,
who was born in 1805 and died in 1894, and who is famous as
the builder of the Suez Canal. In Port Sa‘id there is little
to be seen which is not connected with shipping and the Canal,
but the coaling operations which are here carried out on a very
large scale, however unpleasant to the traveller, are always a
source of interest. Loaded barges are brought alongside the
vessel which is to be coaled, but before they are made fast
gangways are run up, and scores of men, each bearing a basket
of coal, immediately begin their work amid shouts and cries
and singing. The largest steamer, which may require several
hundreds of tons of coal, can be supplied in about two hours,
and when the work is carried on at night, the huge fires which
illumine the barges produce a peculiarly weird effect. The
steam tramway on the west bank of the Canal, which connected
Port Safid with Ismafiliyah, has been converted into a railway,
and the visitor is now able to journey to Cairo in about five
hours instead of seven as formerly.
The Suez Canal Company are carrying on extensive works
at Port Safld, and in about five years’ time the harbour will
have been increased to more than twice its present size. On
the eastern side a large basin is being dredged for the use of
colliers and petroleum ships, and the Sherif basin on the
western side is being doubled in size and deepened to 30 feet.
It is proposed to renew the old eastern breakwater and to
continue it towards the western breakwater.
—
The Suez Canal. A glance at the map of Africa will
show that this vast country is attached to Asia by means of
a relatively very narrow strip of land, i.e ., the Isthmus of Suez,
and a closer examination reveals the fact that this strip of land,
though consisting chiefly of swamp and sand, has for thousands
of years been a serious obstacle to communication by ship
between Europe and the East. At the south end of the
Isthmus is the Gulf of Suez, and at the north of it rolls the
Mediterranean. It is possible that in remote ages the sea
flowed entirely over the place where the Isthmus now is, but
some authorities hesitate to assert this, because the marine
HISTORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 395
faunas of the two seas neither resemble each other, nor are
found together. In historic times probably nothing more than
a series of salt-water lagoons existed between the two seas, and
this must certainly have been the case in the Pharaonic period,
otherwise the kings of Egypt would never have felt compelled
to attempt the great work of constructing a canal. The
Egyptians in the reign of Rameses II, 1330 b.c., seem to have
contrived to make a canal, about 92^ miles long, which ran
from the city of Bubastis to the head of the Gulf of Suez :
this canal passed through the Bitter Lakes for a distance of

about 27 miles. Some 720 years later, Nekau (Necho), the
son of Psammetichus, determined to make a canal to connect
the Nile with the Red Sea, and he began the work.
Herodotus tells us that he was warned to desist from the
undertaking by an oracle which declared that he was only con-
structing it for the use of the barbarians. Notwithstanding the
threats of famine and disaster which the oracle indulged in,
Necho carried on the work until he lost 120,000 Egyptians, when
he was compelled to abandon it. The labours of Necho were,
however, not in vain, for Darius the Persian made use of them in
the construction of his canal, and this channel was maintained
and improved by the Ptolemies, and later by the Romans under
Trajan. Ptolemy II mentions quite distinctly that “ he dug
“ out the canal in the east of Egypt to make it his frontier
“ against the desert lands ”
Hero-
dotus says that the canal was sufficiently wide to admit two tri-
remes abreast, and that the navigation from sea to sea occupied
about four days; Pliny estimated its width at 100 feet, and
Strabo at 100 cubits, i.e., 150 feet, and both writers are probably
correct, for the traces of the canal which still exist indicate that
•its width varied between 100 and 200 feet. Cleopatra, after
her defeat at Actium, endeavoured to save the remnant of her
fleet by passing it through this canal into the Red Sea, but she
failed, owing to the lowness of the Nile at that season.
Of the history of the canal during the early centuries of the
Christian era we know nothing, but it seems that it must
have become blocked, for shortly after the conquest of Egypt
by the Arabs in 640 ‘Amr ibn-al-‘Asi, Muhammad’s general,
proposed to make a canal direct from Suez to the Gulf of
39 ^ M. LE PERE.
Pelusium, and to restore the old canal of the Pharaohs. His

object was to connect Egypt with x\rabia, and to make a
route for the transport of grain from one country to the other.
‘Amr’s commander-in-chief opposed the scheme until 649,
when the canal was reopened, and it remained in a navigable
condition for about 18 years; it was filled up in 767 by a
Caliph who was fighting against Mecca and Madinah, and who
hoped, by stopping the supply of grain, to starve out the
populations. Between the ninth and the eighteenth centuries
many far-sighted rulers wished either to open up the old canal
or to make a new one, but the cost and labour of such an
undertaking prevented the translation of the wish into
work.
In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte, having himself found remains
of the old Egyptian canal near Suez, at once perceived the
importance of water communication between the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea, and appointed a Commission to inquire into
the matter ; and M. Le Pere was directed to prepare a plan
of the route of a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, which should
include the restoration of the old channel. M. Le Pere
worked under great difficulties, for the country was so
unsettled that on several occasions he and his surveyors had
to beat a hasty retreat, under the escort of soldiers, to places of
safety. Moreover, by some extraordinary mistake he declared
the level of the Red Sea to be 30 feet higher than that of the
Mediterranean, and he proposed to overcome the difficulty as
to levels by a series of locks. He was so certain of the
correctness of his views that he wrote :
—
“ It is therefore
“ certain, after a careful study of the surveys we have made,
“ that the Delta is liable to be inundated by the waters of the
61
Red Sea, and that the fears entertained by the ancient
“ Egyptians of submersion in case a canal were made were
“ well grounded in past times, when the Delta, and the bed of
“ the Nile itself, were undoubtedly at a lower elevation.” On
hearing M. Le Pere’s conclusions, Napoleon, though baffled,
did not give up the idea of carrying out the scheme, and, had
circumstances permitted, we may well believe that he would
have caused the canal to be made.
During the early years of the last century many schemes
were propounded, all of which assumed the correctness of
M. Le Pere’s views as to the difference in the level of the
two seas, and among them was one by M. Talbot, who
proposed to build a canal from Suez to Cairo, to take it
HISTORY Ob' THE SUEZ CANAL. 397
by an aqueduct over the Nile at Cairo, and thence to the

Mediterranean at Alexandria. In 1846 M. Bourdaloue,
after making a double survey from Suez to Tinah, and
from Tinah to Suez, decided that the difference between
the levels of the two seas was so slight that, if the canal
were made, it would be unnecessary to face the embank-
ments, except in places near the Red Sea. In 1849
M. Ferdinand de Lesseps began to study M. Le Pere’s report,
and to work out a scheme for a canal across the isthmus, and
very soon afterwards he came to the conclusion that it was
possible to make one. He possessed influence at Court, and
a close friendship existed between Muhammad ‘Ali and his
successors and the family of De Lesseps. In 1854 he brought
his plans before Sa‘id Pasha, who supported them warmly and
gave him a preliminary concession which authorised him to
form a company for the purpose of excavating a canal between
the two seas. M. de Lesseps visited England, and found
many capitalists ready to help him, but the British Govern-
ment under Lord Palmerston looked coldly on the scheme,
and even the French Government were not over-pleased with
it. When it became evident that the Company would certainly
be floated, the British Government, through the British
Minister at Constantinople, brought all its influence to bear
on the Porte to induce it to veto the making of the canal. As
soon as possible M. de Lesseps had a new survey of the
route made by Linant Bey and Mougel Bey, which was finished
in 1855, and submitted to an International Commission
nominated by the Great Powers of Europe. The Commission
declared the scheme to be possible, and M. de Lesseps
obtained a second concession, notwithstanding that the Sultan
had declined to confirm the previous one which had been
submitted to him by the Viceroy. The Suez Canal Company
was then finally organized, nearly on the same basis on which
it at present stands; the concession is to last
99 years from
the date of the opening of the canal, and the Government to
receive 15 per cent, annually of the earnings of the Company.
In January, 1856, a new clause was inserted in the concession,
which provided that four-fifths of the workmen should be
Egyptians. This implied that the Egyptian Government was
bound to find this proportion of labourers, which at that time
amounted to 20,000 fellahin or peasant farm-labourers. The
,
Porte objected to some of the details connected with the

w orkingof the scheme, and so brought everything to a standstill
T
398 HISTORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL.
for nearlytwo years. Finally, the whole matter was submitted

for by the Viceroy of Egypt to the Emperor
arbitration
Napoleon, who in July, 1864, awarded the Company an
indemnity of ^3,360,000. Meanwhile M. de Lesseps had
many serious difficulties to contend against, and he and his
engineers were ordered to leave the country ; and on one
occasion, when cholera was raging, all their workmen ran away.
When the works were commenced, the engineers were con-
fronted with the difficulty of obtaining drinking water. In
1856 the Egyptian Government had agreed to make a fresh-
water canal from Ismafiliyah to Port Sa‘id, but having experience
of the tactics of high officials, M. de Lesseps soon realized that
if it was to be made within any reasonable period his Company
must make it. Before the fresh-water canal was constructed,

3,000 camels and donkeys were employed in carrying water
from the Nile to the works when the Company had made the
;
fresh-water canal, the Egyptian Government in 1863 purchased

it for ^*400,000.
The machinery employed in the making of the Suez Canal
cost ^2,400,000, and it is calculated that 96,938,066 cubic
yards of mud, sand, etc., were dredged and excavated the cost ;
of the coals consumed was ^40,000 per month. Mention

has already been made of the difference in level which exists
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and we may
also note in passing the action of the tide, which is felt in the
southern portion of the canal between Suez and the Bitter
Lakes. There is a regular flow and ebb, the flow running in
for seven hours, and the ebb running out for five hours. At
the Suez entrance the rise at spring tides, unless affected by
strong winds, is between 5 feet and 6 feet about half-way from
;
Suez to the Small Bitter Lake, a distance of 6 miles, it is

under 2 feet at the north end of the Small Bitter Lake, a few
;
inches only while at the south end of the Great Bitter Lake
;
there is scarcely any perceptible tidal influence. Since the

filling of Lake Timsah by the waters of the Mediterranean in
April, 1867, the level of the Great Bitter Lake has risen
4 inches, and there is a current of from half a mile to a mile
per hour always running from Lake Timsah towards the
Mediterranean.
The exact distance across the isthmus from Tinah, which
marks the site of Pelusium, to Suez is only 70 miles, but the
actual distance which the canal traverses from Port Sa‘id to
where it enters the Red Sea, a little to the south-east of Suez,
HISTORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 399
is ioo miles. This additional length is amply compensated by

the natural advantages gained in the adoption of the present
line, and the credit of suggesting this particular route is due to
M. Lavallay, who saw how the work would be facilitated,
and the moneys economized by making the beds of Lakes
Manzalah, Balah, Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes form parts of
the bottom of the new canal. About 60 miles of the canal’s
course through these lakes. The width of the canal at the
lies
Suez end is about 300 yards in the widest part. The average
width of the dredged channel is about 90 yards, and the
average depth about 28 feet.
The inauguration of the Suez Canal took place on
November 1 6th, 1869, with splendid ceremonies. A benedic-
tion of the canal in Arabic was pronounced by the Shekh
Apagada of Cairo, and Monsignor Bauer, Archbishop of
Alexandria, conducted an impressive service in the presence
of the Khedive, the Emperor of Austria, the Empress of the
French, and a crowd of notables of every nationality, and
pronounced an eloquent encomium on M. de Lesseps, and on
the “obscurs illustres” who had fallen in the course of the
work. The cost of entertaining the guests and the inaugural
fetes is said to have been about ^2,000,000 ; some declare
that they cost ^4,000,000, and some name even a higher
figure. The Opera House at Cairo cost ^60,000, the palace
built at Isma‘iliyah for the occasion ^40,000, and for several
weeks hospitality was dispensed lavishly to everyone who asked
for it from one end of the canal to the other. At the opening
ball 6,000 persons were present, but of these 2,000 were
uninvited.
The total amount of money received by the Suez Canal
Company up to April 30th, 1863, wasî3, 853, 866. The original
capital was subscribed in 400,000 shares of ^20. In 1868
an additional sum of ^4,000,000 was needed, and 333,333
bonds at £\2 were issued; only ^1,143,687 of this amount
were subscribed, and the balance of ^2,856,313 was raised
in a few days by lottery. In 1871 a loan of ^800,000 was
raised, and further loans were raised in 1880 and 1887.
Besides the ordinary shares there were 100,000 founders’
shares, which gave their owners the right to participate in the
surplus profits under certain conditions. In 1875 Ismael
Pasha sold 176,602 Suez Canal shares to the British Govern-
ment for ^3, 976,582 sterling; these shares are now worth
more than ^25,000,000. On April 7th, 1911, the Egyptian
— 1 —
400 TRAFFIC RECEIPTS. ETC.
Government brought before the General Assembly proposals

with regard to the renewal of the Suez Canal Concession, and
after a prolonged discussion, they were rejected by 66 votes to
one. It will be remembered that the concession of the Suez
Canal Company expires on November 17th, 1968. The pro-
posed Convention, which was rejected by the Egyptian General
Assembly, provided that the concession should be prolonged
for an additional 40 years to the end of 2008. The Company
was to pay the Government Ê.4,000,000 in four equal annual
instalments beginning on December 15th next; from 1921 the
Government was to receive a proportion of the net revenue, ris-
ing from 4 per cent, in 1921 to 12 percent, in the years 1961-8.
From January 1st, 1969, to the expiration of the prolonged
concession in 2008, the net revenue was to be divided between
the Company and the Government on the following plan :
When below ^2,000,000 the whole was to go to the Company ;

when between ^2,000,000 and ^4,000,000, ^2,000,000 was
to go to the Company and the rest to the Government when ;
over ^4,000,000 it was to be divided equally. From January

1 st, 1969, the Government was to forego the 15 per cent, of
the receipts allotted to the Egyptian State by Article 63 of the
present Convention. From the same date the Government was
to be represented on the Board of Administration by three
members. The following figures will illustrate the development
of traffic on the Suez Canal :
No. of
Year. Gross Tonnage. Receipts. Passengers.
Vessels.
Francs.
1869 10 IO >557 54,460
1870 486 654,915 5,159,327 26,758
1871 765 1,142,200 8,993,732 48,422
1872 1,082 1,744,481 16,407,591 67,640
1873 1 73
5
1 2,085,072 22,897,319 68,030
1874 1,264 2,423,672 24,859,383 73 , 597
1875 i,494 2,940,708 28,886,302 84,446
1876 i,457 3,072,107 29,974,998 59,614
1877 1,663 3 , 4 ' 8,949 32,774,344 72,821
1878 '>593 3 291,535
, 31,098,229 96,363
1879 1,477 3,236,942 29,686,060 82,144
1880 2,026 4 344,519
, 39,840,487 98,900
1881 2,727 5 794,491
, 51,274,352 86,806
1882 3,198 7,122,125 60,545,882 121,872
1883 3,307 8,051,307 65,847,812 1
5 597 ?
1884 3,284 8 319,967

, 62,378,115 148,298
1885 3,624 8,985,411 62,207,439 201,771
1
TRAFFIC RECEIPTS, ETC. 40
No. of
Year. Gross Tonnage. Receipts. Passengers.
Vessels.
Francs.
1886 8,183,313 56,527,390 167,622
1887 3**37 8,430,043 57,862,370 178,785
1888 3,440 9,437,957 64,832,273 179,465
1889 33425 9,605,745 66,167,579 175,505
1890 3.389 9,749,129 66,984,000 155,676
1891 4,207 12,217,986 83,422,101 188,126
1892 3*559 10,866,401 74,452,436 183,912
1893 3 34 i
, 10,753,798 70,667,361 180,432
1894 3^352 11,283,854 73,776,827 165,986
18Q5 3,434 11,833,637 78,103,717 216,936
1896 3,409 12,039,858 79,569,994 308,227
1897 2,986 11,123,403 72,830,545 191,215
I898 3,503 12,962,631 85,294,769 219,671
1899 3.607 13,815,991 91,318,772 221,347
1900 3.441 13,699,237 90,623,608 282,194
1901 3.699 15,163,233 100,386,397 270,221
1902 3 7 o8
. 15,694,359 103,720,020 223,658
1903 3.701 16,615,309 103,620,268 195,217
1904 4,237 18,661,092 115,818,479 210,845
1905 4,116 18,310,442 113,866,796 252,693
1906 3,975 18,810,713 108,161,896 359,616
1907 !
4,267 20,551,982 116,000,096 243,580

1908 3.795 19,110,831 108,452,235 218,785
1909 4,239 21,500,847 120,642,677 213,121
Of the 4,239 vessels which passed through the canal in

-
1909, 2,561 were British, 600 German, 231 French, 251

Dutch, 148 Austro-Hungarian, 74 Russian, 90 Italian,
26 Spanish, 37 Norwegian, 30 American, 35 Danish, 39
Turkish, 5 Greek, 23 Swedish, 2 Egyptian, 1 Portuguese,
76 Japanese, and 10 Siamese. Since the introduction of the
electric light, ships have passed through the canal by day and
by night. In 1909 the mean duration of passage for all vessels
navigating the canal was 17 hours 13 minutes.
The saving of distance effected by the Suez Canal for a ship
sailing from New York, or England, or Marseilles, or
St. Petersburg, to the East amounts to 3,600, 4,840, 5,940,
and 4,840 nautical miles respectively.
2 c
2 ;
40
IV. — PORT SA‘IDTO SUEZ, via THE

SUEZ CANAL.
On leaving Port Said the canal at once enters Lake
Manzalah, through which the channel runs for 29 miles :
the waters of the lake are shallow, and the bottom is mud,
which has been deposited by the Peiusiaq, Tanitic, and
Mendesian branches of the Nile, all of which flow through the
lake. The banks on each side of the canal were formed of
the materials which were dredged up from the bottom.
Enormous flocks of water fowl may be seen standing in shallow
lagoons at a short distance from the railway. In the district
which is now nearly all covered by Lake Manzalah stood the
famous city of Tanis, the capital of the Tanitic Nome, which is
familiar to all under the name of Zoan {see Numbers xiii, 22)
the whole district itself is probably that which is called the
Field of Zoan in Psalm lxxviii, 12, 43. The fields for
many miles round were exceedingly fertile, and wheat and
vines were grown abundantly. About the eighth or tenth
century, through causes which have been explained elsewhere,
the sea invaded the district which, until the present day, has
remained a shallow marsh. The draining of Lake Manzalah
has been begun, and in a few years’ time we may hope to see
the ground occupied by crops of wheat, etc.
At the end of Lake Manzalah is Al»Kantarah, i.e. y u the
Bridge ” ; the place bears this name because it stands on the
narrow strip of land which divides Lake Manzalah from Lake
Balah, and which may be regarded as a bridge. As a
matter of fact the old caravan route between Egypt and Syria
passed over this “ bridge.” A little to the north of AI-Kantarah
are the mounds of Tell Dafannah, which mark the site of the
city Tahapanes (Jeremiah ii, 16), i.e., the Daphnae of the
Greeks. The canal runs for two miles between low sands-hills,
when it enters Lake Balah, which is eight miles long ; at the
end of the lake is Al = Fardan, and here the canal enters a
cutting which extends to Lake Timsah. Four miles south of
Al-Fardan is AUGisr, which is the deepest cutting along the
whole course of the canal, for mud and sand had to be
excavated to a depth of about 70 feet. Three lines of tram-
way were laid down, and six engines and 250 wagons were
employed in removing the soil the work was finished in
;
CROCODILE LAKE. 403
January, 1868. It was to this point that, during the early

stages of the undertaking, the 20,000 fellahin who were supplied
by the Government were sent in order to make a narrow
channel wherein the dredgers could be floated and utilized.
Two years were spent in making this channel, and then the
waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the basin of. -Lake
Timsah, which took five months to fill. Most of the excava-
tion was done by piece work, and each labourer earned from
i5“. 6d. to 2 s. 6d. per day. The circumference of Lake .Timsah
is nine miles, and 95,000,000 cubic yards of water were
required to fill it. On the north bank of Lake Timsah,
/.<?., the Crocodile Lake, stands the flourishing little town
of Isma'iliyah, which was called after Ismafil TasM; the
population is about 1 1,448. The town contains many pretty
villas with gardens, and the verdant lebbek tree has been
planted generously along the roads, which are clearly defined
and well kept. A great deal of taste has been displayed by the
inhabitants in laying out the streets and squares, and looking
on the town from a distance it seems incredible that less than
50 years ago its site was a howling wilderness. Here the
sweet-water canal which is brought from the Nile at Zakazik,
50 miles distant, divides into two branches, the one entering the
Suez Canal by double locks and the other running .on to Suez.
From 1862, when the town was founded, until 1877 the health
of its inhabitants was very good ; in the latter year, however,
335 cases of fever appeared, and the disease became endemic,
and between 1884 and 1897 there were 1,700 cases o.f fever
each year, and between 1898 and 1902 there were 1,800 cases
of fever. Up to the end of 1897 the. Suez Canal Company had
spent nearly ^32,000 on sanitary works and medicine, but .no
impression was made on the fever. ;
Subsequently Major Ross
was invited to examine the town, and he came to the conclu-
sion that the fever was caused by the anopheles mosquito,
which bred in vast numbers in the pools of stagnant water
that lay round the town. On December 27th, 1902, it was
decided to adopt Major Ross’s system of dealing with the
insect, and in 1903 there were only 213 cases of fever as
against 2,209 m 1902. Of the 213 cases in 1903, 203 were
cases of those who had had fever previously,; thus the number
of new cases in 1903 was only 10. In reCent years the number
of cases of malaria has still further diminished.
'The second half of the Suez Canal, that from Ismafiliyah to
the Red Sea, may be divided into two portions; the first
2 c 2
404 THE BITTER LAKES, SUEZ.
extends from Lake Timsah, through the cutting of Tusun to

the southern end of the cutting of the Serapeum, and the
second from the Bitter Lakes and through the Shalhf cutting
to Suez. Near the Serapeum monuments of Darius have been
found. The length of the Bitter Lakes is about 24 miles. In
the Shaltif cutting a stratum of conglomerate rock was found,
about 52,000 cubic yards of which had to be blasted and
cleared away. Numerous fossil remains were found here, and
those of the shark in considerable quantities.
SUEZ.-— Cook’s Agent : Mr. G. Mavro.

Post and Telegraph Offices at the Railway Station (Eastern Tele-
graph Co.) Branch Post Office at Port Tewfik.
U.S. Consular Agent : Mr. F. T. Peake.
Trains every hour between the town and Port Tewfik. Return fares : 1st
class, 3 piastres
;
2nd class, ij piastres.
On approaching the town of Suez is continued

the canal
into the Gulf of Suez, which ends in a shallow. In i860, before
the works were begun, Suez was an unimportant village, con-
taining, according to Mr. J. Glerk, about 4,000 inhabitants,
who lived by fishing and by work on the large steamers which
embarked and disembarked passengers by the overland route ;
the absence of a good supply of fresh water and the dearness
of provisions effectually prevented the growth of the town. In
1907, however, its inhabitants numbered 18,347 persons.
Formerly, after the opening of the Suez Canal, when pas-
sengers disembarked and embarked at Suez, the little town was
comparatively prosperous, but in recent years, in spite of the
reclamation of land and the plentiful supply of fresh water, its
development has become arrested. The history of Suez in
antiquity is not very clear, and though a few unimportant objects
of the dynastic period have been found in its neighbourhood,
the Egyptian inscriptions yield no information about it.
Classical writers speak of a town or fortress called Clysma,
which was situated at the head of the western gulf of the Red
Sea, and it seems that it must have stood quite near the
modern Suez. An ancient tradition makes the passage of the
Israelites across the Red Sea to have taken place near here.
There is little to interest the traveller in Suez, for the bazaars
are unimportant, and the shoos only contain the tawdry things
which are bought by the poorest of native travellers in their
passage through the town. As Port Sa‘id is fittingly ornamented
with a statue of M. de Lesseps, that wonderful man to whom
THE WELL OF MOSES. 405
the world owes the successful completion of the Suez Canal*

so is Suez ornamented with a statue of Thomas Waghorn*
which was set up by M. de Lesseps on the island made from
the dredgings of the canal. Waghorn was born in 1800, and
died in January, 1850. He served in the navy for six years,
and was a pilot in the Bengal Service for five years between;
1827 and 1830 he advocated the overland route from Cairo to

Suez for passengers to India, and before 1841 actually proved
his views to be possible by organizing the transport service for
it. He arrived in London on October 31st, 1845, bringing with
him the Bombay mail of October r, and the ordinary express
mail did not arrive until two days later he was fully persuaded
;
that he could bring the mail from Bombay to London in

21 days. He was made lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1842,
but the man who had done so much for Britain and British
commerce, and had fought in the Burmese war, was allowed to
end his days in penury and to die in want.
Travellers to Suez who have a day to spare usually visit the
Well of Moses, or Fountain of Moses, which is situated on
the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez, about 7 miles from the
town. Tradition asserts that Moses and the Children of Israel
rested here and drank water after they had crossed the sea, but
the Moses after whom the place is named was probably not
Moses the great law-giver. The Well of Moses is in reality a
small oasis, about half a mile in length, where there were said
to have existed originally seven gardens or groves, and 12
fountains of brackish, or actually salt, water. There are many
beautiful date palms here, and the luxuriant growth of green
things is very refreshing to the eye. The tradition referred to
above would identify the Well of Moses with Elim “where were
“ twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm trees,”
and where the Israelites encamped (see Exodus xv, 27).
Another tradition says that the waters which the Israelites
drank were made sweet by a plant which Moses cast into it by
Divine command, and this would identify the place with
Marah (Exodus xv, 23-25).
Antoninus, called by some “ Martyr,” tells us in his
“Itinerary” how he journeyed to Sachot and to Magdal, and
also to the place where there were 72 palms and 12 wells.
Here there were a little castle called Surandala, and two
houses for receiving strangers, and here he saw pepper trees
growing, and plucked some of their fruit. Next he came to
the place where the Israelites camped after crossing the sea.
406 CLYSMA.
and then he passed on to the spot on the sea shore where

they came up out of the sea. Here he found a chapel
dedicated to Elijah, and on the other side of the sea, where
the Israelites entered it, a chapel dedicated to Moses. Close
by was the little town of Clysma to which the ships from India
came. Stretching out of the sea he found a gulf which reached
far inland, and wherein ebbed and flowed the tide, and
Antoninus declares that when the tide was out it was possible
to see the weapons of Pharaoh and the remains of the wheels
of his chariot, all of which, however, were turned into marble.
Antoninus made his famous journey about the year 570, but
the tradition about the scene of the overthrow of the hosts of
Pharaoh is considerably older. This narrative is interesting,
because' it shows that the belief which asserted that the
Egyptian army was drowned near Suez was accepted in his
day ; it is also important as proving that Clysma was a port
for ships which traded between India and Egypt, and it
suggests that the Indian merchandize was carried overland,
probably to the city which is represented by the modern Cairo,
and to Alexandria. Had the canal from the Red Sea to the
Nile (Amnis Trajanus) been in working order, the wares of
India would no doubt have been carried by it to the great cities
of the Delta. The geography of the district at the southern
end of the present Suez Canal is of great interest, but it is
very difficult to identify the sites mentioned by classical and
other writers, and to harmonize the statements about their
position which are made by ancient historians. Some recent
authorities' think that the conformation of the coast at the north
end of the Gulf of Suez was different about 2,000 years ago
from what it is at the present time, and if this be so, the
generally accepted identifications of sites will need revision.
407
V.— PORT SA‘tD TO CAIRO.

At the present time the traveller to Cairo from Port Sa^d
proceeds by the New Railway to Isma‘iliyah, and then joining
the Cairo-Suez Railway continues his journey to the capital,
via Zakazik, Benha, and Kalyub. Formerly the first part of
the journey was made by means of the Suez Canal Company’s
Steam Tramway, which was 80 kilometres long, i.e., 50 miles,
and occupied about three hours. Halts were made at
stations at kilometre 15 (Ras al-‘Esh), at kilometre 24, at
kilometre 34, at kilometre 45 (Al-Kantarah, with about 600
inhabitants), at kilometre 55, and at kilometre 65 (Al-Fardan),
Formerly the great ocean steamer companies disembarked
their passengers for Cairo at Ismaffiiyah, or the traveller was at
liberty to proceed thither in the post-boat which ran between
Port Sa‘id and Ismadliyah. It was soon found, however, that
the stoppage of the mail steamers on their way to Suez inter-
fered with the working of the general traffic in the Canal, and
that it also raised difficulties with the Quarantine Board, and,
as the post-boat was small and possessed but insufficient
accommodation, the Suez Canal Company built a steam
tramway, which they allowed to be used for the transport both
of the mails and passengers. It was, however, evident that,
although this tramway was a great improvement upon the means
of communication between Port Sa‘id and Ismafiliyah which
previously existed, it was totally inadequate for the needs
of the traffic which was growing by leaps and bounds between
the two places. There was much talk of building a railway
across Lake Manzalah to join the Cairo-Damietta line at
Mansftrah, but at length the Egyptian Government, acting on
the advice of the Railway Administration, decided that the best
way to connect Port Sa‘id with the capital was to substitute a
railway of the ordinary gauge of the State Railways for the
Suez Canal Company’s Steam Tramway. As the result of the
negotiations which went on between the Government and the
Company the latter agreed to convert the tramway into a
railway of the ordinary gauge, but the actual work of converting
the line was to be carried out by the Railway Administration
at the expense of the Company. The Company is to be
reimbursed by means of annuities, calculated at 4 per cent.,
including interest and sinking fund. These annuities run until
the expiration of the concession in 1968. The total cost of
the work, including compensation for the present tramway, was
408 THE WADI TUmIlAT.
estimated to amount to between Ê.350,000 and Ê.400,000.

The capital cost of conversion was Ê.240,000. The
amount of the annuity is therefore between Ê. 16,000
and Ê. 18,000. The Railway Administration estimated an
increase in receipts of about Ê.90,000, of which Ê. 30,000
would be profit. The time required for converting the tram-
way into a railway was estimated at 1 8 months, but the work
was delayed for several months through the cholera epidemic,
and the new line was not opened for traffic until the end of
1904. The receipts from the tramway in 1902 were Ê.6,oi9 ;
in 1903 they were Ê. 10,730 ; in 1904 they were Ê.13,737.
During the same years the receipts from goods were Ê.1,876,
Ê. 2,037, and Ê.5,139 respectively. The traffic on the
Port Safid line has been very disappointing, for the receipts for
first-class passengers actually show a falling off, whilst the
increase in numbers is very small. The number of passengers
booked at Aswan alone is about double the number dealt with
c
at Port Sa id. (
Egypt No. 1 (1906), p. 51.)
,
After leaving Ismafiliyah, which is about 94 miles from Cairo,

and has already been described, the first place stopped at is
Nafishah ; this is merely a station that belongs to the
triangle by which trains to and from Cairo and trains to and
from Suez arrive at and depart from Ismafiliyah. Nafishah is
between two and three miles from Ismafiliyah ; here the Fresh
Water Canal divides, one branch running into Ismafiliyah, and
the other into Suez, a distance of nearly 50 miles.
About 12 miles from Nafishah is Abu Suwer, the first
station in the Wadi Turmlat; this Wadi, or valley, is about
30 miles long, and runs almost due east and west, and leads
into the tract of country which is called Goshen in the Bible.
At mile 18 from Ismafiliyah is Mahsamah, a village which
stands on the site of a part of a frontier fortress town built by
Rameses II, about 1300 b.c. Between Mahsamah and Abfi
Suwer are a number of ruins to which the name Tell
al = Maskhutah has been given; this name means the “hill
of the statue,” and the place was thus called by the Arabs
because of a monolithic group in red granite, representing
a king sitting between two gods. The inscriptions on the
back of the group showed that the' king was Rameses II, and
Dr. Lepsius, without any hesitation, identified Tell al-Maskhfitah
with the city of “Raamses” built by the Israelites during the
oppression. This identification was generally accepted, and
the place was henceforth called “ Raamses ” by Europeans
PITHOM AND SUCCOTH. 409
until 1883, when the excavations which Professor Naville

*
made on the site proved that the Egyptian town which stood
here was not Raamses at all, but Pithom, and an inscription
gave the information that the district was called Thuku
,
by the Egyptians, and Succoth by the Hebrews.
These discoveries were of great importance, for they showed

beyond a doubt that Pithom was a town in Succoth, and that
Succoth was in the neighbourhood of Goshen. Joseph said
to Jacob, “And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and
“ thou shalt be near unto me and there will I nourish
. . .
“ thee ” (Genesis xlv, ro); and it was to Goshen that Jacob

came from Canaan (Genesis xlvi, 28)^ and “ Israel dwelt in the
“ land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen ; and they had
“ possessions therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly ”
(Genesis xlvii, 27). We see that the Hebrews called Thuku
“ Succoth, ” which means “tents,” not because the Egyptian
name meant “tents,” but because they pronounced Thuku as
Suku, and this done, popular etymology supplied a Hebrew
meaning. In much the same way, as Professor Naville has
already remarked, the word Mesu t ,

which means
||j
“ child,” was turned into the proper name “ Moses ” (Mosheh),
and this done, the Hebrew philologists connected it with
a root in their own language, which means “to draw out.” In
Exodus i, 1 1 ff we read, “Therefore did they (/.<?., the
,
“ Egyptians) set over them taskmasters to afflict them with

“ their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities,
“ Pithom and Raamses And the Egyptians made the
. . .
“ children of Israel to serve with rigour and they made their :
“ lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in

“ all manner of service in the field all their service, wherein :
“they made them serve, was with rigour.” The name of the
Egyptian town excavated by Professor Naville was Pa-Temu
,
whence is derived the Hebrew form Pithom
with which all In the course of the excavations
are familiar.
a large number
of chambers were found, the walls of which
were built of crude bricks, and were from 6 to 9 feet thick,
* See The Store City of Pithom London, 2nd edition, 1903.
,
t The name Mesu has actually been found in hiero-

glyphics. (See Ostrakon in the British Museum, No. 5631.)
410 EXCAVATIONS AT TELL AL-MASKH^TAH.
the chambers were rectangular in shape, and were not con-

nected by doors or any other opening. There is little doubt
that these chambers were the store-places for grain, which was
shot into them through holes in the roofs, and it is evident
that a very large reserve of grain could be kept in them.
, The
object of such “ treasure cities,” or rather store cities, was to
supply the troops that were stationed on the frontier to “ ward
the marches”, between Egypt and Syria. The town of
Raamses was not far from Pithom, and there is every reason
to assume that it was in the construction of the crude brick
buildings which belonged to them that the Israelites worked.
In respect of the bricks of Pithom, Mr. Villiers Stuart remarked
( Egypt after the War p. 81), “I carefully examined the
,
“ chamber walls, and I noticed that some of the corners of the

“ brickwork throughout were built of bricks without straw.
“ I do, not remember to have met anywhere in Egypt bricks so
“made. In a dry climate like Egypt it is not necessary to
“ burn the bricks they are made of Nile mud, and dried in the
;
“ sun. Straw is mixed with them to give them coherence.”
This evidence is not so conclusive as it seems, for often straw
(i.e., tehen is only used in mud bricks when it can be spared
)
for this purpose, and everywhere in Egypt, especially in poor
districts where all the straw is required for food for the cattle,
mud bricks in which there is no straw “ binding ” will be found.
In 1908 M. J. Cledat carried out excavations at Tell al-
Maskhfitah, near the ruins of the old town of Pa-Tem (Pithom),
and recovered a number of small objects chiefly of the Saite
Period. Of the older things, the: most important is a cylinder-
seal which was made for an official who served under Merenra
and Pepi II, kings of the Vlth dynasty. The Horus names
of these kings are given side by side, and beneath them is cut
a scene representing a king sacrificing a prisoner to his god.
The official for whom the cylinder was made was a priest on
the foundations of the pyramids of king Assa (Vth dynasty)
and king Pepi I (Vlth dynasty). The cylinder is important as
proving that there must have been some fortress on the site
under the Ancient Empire, and that this stood on the eastern
frontier of the Delta.
At mile 24 from Ismahliyah is Kasasin, commonly spelt
Kassassin. It was here that on August 28th, 1882, a battle
between the British and the forces of Arabi Pasha was fought,
and General Graham defeated an Egyptian force of 1,000
cavalry, 8,000 infantry, and 12 guns. The British loss was
TELL AL-KABlR. 411
ii killed and 67 wounded. The famous ‘‘moonlight charge”

was an episode of but it is said to have had no real
this battle,
effecton the fortunes of the day. At mile 34 from Isma‘iliyah
is Tell al-Kabir, more correctly At-Tall al-Kabir, i.e., the
Great Hill, a wretched village, but made famous by Lord
Wolseley’s victory over Arabi Pasha in 1882. Arabi was
exiled here with his mutinous regiment in 1881, and the place'
had been used as a military station and camp for some years.
Tell al-Kabir and Kafr ad-Dawar are the two great strategical
points to be held in defending Lower Egypt. Arabics force
consisted of 70 guns, 18,000 infantry, three regiments of cavalry,
6,000 Badawin, and at As-Salaliiyah was Arabi himself, with
24 guns and 5,000 men in reserve. The battle began at dawn
on September 13th, and by 6.45 a.m. Arabics headquarters and
the canal bridge were seized ; the British casualties were 459
killed, wounded, and missing, and the Egyptian losses were
2,060. Arabi and his second in command were the first to
escape, but the Egyptian soldiers displayed real courage, as the,
contents of the trenches proved. The British cemetery is to
the south of the railway line, a little distance from the station.
The army of Arabi ceased to exist after the battle of Tell
al-Kabir, Zakazik was occupied at 4 p.m. on the day of the
fight, Cairo was occupied by General Drury-Lowe at 4.45 p.m.
the following day, and Lord Wolseley arrived by train on the
morning of the 15th.
At mile 40 from Isma‘iliyah is Abfi Hammad, four miles
further on is Abu Al-Akhdar, and in four miles more
Zakazik is reached. Zakazik is the capital of the province
Sharkiyah, and contained in 1907 some 34,999 inhabitants.
The town is an important centre of the cotton trade, as the
trains loaded with steam-pressed bales, each weighing about
760 pounds, which are seen in the sidings testify ; here, too, there
is a grain market, and many wealthy merchants, both native
and European, live in and about the town. Zakazik probably

stands on the western boundary of the Land of Goshen, for
the fertility of the district is unsurpassed, and the crops are
abundant. The large stream which runs through the town is
the Mu‘izz Canal, and it represents the old Tanitic arm of the
Nile; the town is connected by rail with Manstirah, and there
are two lines to Cairo, one via Belbes, and the other via
Benha. Close to the town is the Fresh Water Canal, which, in
many places, follows the course of the Nile and Red Sea Canal
first built by Rameses II, and later repaired and enlarged by
—
412 BUBASTIS.
Necho, Darius I, Ptolemy If, Trajan, and one of the early

Khalifahs. Quite close to the station are a number of mounds
which mark the site of the great city, which the prophet Ezekiel
calls “ Pi-beseth,” and of which he says “The young men of
:
“ Aven (On, or Heliopolis) and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the

“ sword and these cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes
:
“ also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the
“ yokes of Egypt/’ etc. (Ezek. xxx, 17, 18). Pi-Beseth is the
city Pa-Bast, or of the hiero*

I I
glyphic inscriptions, and the Bubastis of classical writers.

The excavations made at this place by Professor Naville for the
Egypt Exploration Fund in 1887-8 prove that a flourishing
city, with a temple, stood here so far back as the IVth dynasty,
and that most of the great kings of the Vlth, XHth, XVIIIth,
XIXth, XXIInd, XXVIth, and XXXth dynasties repaired, or
added to or beautified, the temple and city. Bubastis was
captured by the Persians about 352 b.c., and they wrecked
the strong walls, which were several miles long, and inflicted
injuries on the fortifications from which the town never
recovered. It is probable that the whole of the land within
the walls was raised above the level of the surrounding country
by artificial means. The great deity of Bubastis was the goddess
Bast, and she was worshipped under the form of a cat-headed
lioness ; she is represented with a disk encircled by a uraeus
on her head, and she holds a lotus sceptre in one hand. The
cult of this goddess is very ancient, and it goes back to the
time when the cat was regarded as the incarnation of the chief
deity of the neighbourhood; under the influence of the Sun-
worshippers, who came into Egypt from the east, the old attributes
of the goddess were forgotten, and new ones of a solar character
were ascribed to her. The festivals of Bast were celebrated with
great rejoicings, and it is said that so many as 700,000 visitors
sometimes arrived at Bubastis on such occasions. The
account of the temple and its festivals, according to Herodotus
(Book II, §§ 60, 137, 138), is as follows :
“ Although other cities in Egypt were carried to a great

“ height, in my opinion, the greatest mounds were thrown up
“ about the city of Bubastis, in which is a temple of Bubastis
“ well worthy of mention
;
for though other temples may be
“ larger and more costly, yet none is more pleasing to look at
“ than this. Bubastis, in the Greek language, answers to
“ Diana. Her sacred precinct is thus situated all except
:
BUBASTIS. 413
“ the entrance is an island ; for two canals from the Nile

“ extend to it, not mingling with each other, but each reaches
“ as far as the entrance of the precinct, one flowing round it
“ on one side, the other on the other. Each is 100 feet
“ broad, and shaded with trees. The portico is 60 feet in
“ height, and is adorned with figures 6 cubits high, that are
“ deserving of notice. This precinct, being in the middle
“ of the city, is visible on every side to a person going round
“ it :for as the city has been mounded up to a considerable
“ height, but the temple has not been moved, it is conspicuous
“ as it was originally built. A wall sculptured with figures
“ runs round it and within is a grove of lofty trees, planted
;
“ round a large temple in which the image is placed. The

“ width and length of the precinct is each way a stade
•“ [600 feet]. Along the entrance is a road paved with stone,
“ about three stades in length [1,800 feet], leading through
“ the square eastward ; and in width it is about four plethra
“ [400 feet] on each side of the road grow trees of enormous
:
“ height it leads to the temple of Mercury.

;
“ Now, when they are being conveyed to the city Bubastis,
“ they act as follows: for men and women embark together,
“ and great numbers of both sexes in every barge some of
;
“ the women have castanets on which they play, and the men
“ play on the flute during the whole voyage ; the rest of the
“ women and men sing and clap their hands together at the
“ same time. When in the course of their passage they come
“ to any town, they lay their barge near to land, and do as
“ follows : some of the women do as I have described ; others
“ shout and scoff at the women of the place some dance,
;
“and others stand up and behave in an unseemly manner;

“ this they do at every town by the river-side. When they
“ arrive at Bubastis, they celebrate the feast, offering up great
“ sacrifices and more wine is consumed at this festival than
;
u of the year.
in all the rest What with men and women,
“ besides children, they congregate, as the inhabitants say,
“ to the number of seven hundred thousand.”
Between Zakazik and Cairo, via Benha, the following stations
are passed—Zankalun, with 5,976 inhabitants Gudaya-
:
;
dat aUHalah, with 1,900 inhabitants Mina AI = Kamh, with

;
5,921 inhabitants; Mit=Yazid, with 3,830 inhabitants; and

Shablangah, with 6,372 inhabitants. The distance between
Zakazik and Benha is about 20 miles ; Benha and the remainder
of the route to Cairo have already been described.
414
VI.— CAIRO.
Cook’s Office, near Shepheard’s Hotel.
(Hotels, see pp. 22, 23).
Railway Stations. — 1. Central, in the north-western part of the

town, for trains to Alexandria, Suez, Isma‘iliyah, and Upper Egypt.
2. Pont Limun, near Central Station, for trains to Heliopolis, Matariah,
etc. 3. B&b el-Luk, near the Egyptian Museum, for trains to Helwan.
Hotel Omnibuses meet principal trains.
Post Office, corner of Sharia Tahir and Sharia el-Baidak ; open from
7.30 a.m. till 9.30 p.m.
* Telegraph Offices of the Eastern Telegraph Company at the corner
of the Sharia Imad ed- Din and Sharia el-Manakh. Branch offices at
Shepheard’s Hotel, Ghezireh Palace Hotel and Credit Lyonnais, Sharia
el-Bosta.
British Agent and Consul-General, Sir E. Gorst, K.C.B. ;
Consul, A. D. Alban.
U.S. Agent and Consul-General, P. A. Jay Deputy Consul- ;
General, L. Belrose.
Doctors’ Addresses— also Chemists’ may be obtained at any of —
the hotels.
Churches, —All Saints, Boulac Road
; St.
Mary’s, 9, Kasr el-Doubara ;
Sunday 1O.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
services, American Mission, opposite
Shepheard’s Hotel service at 6 p.m.
; German Protestant Church, 19,
Sharia el-Maghrabi ; services in German and French. Roman Catholic
(St. Joseph), Ismailia Quarter ; Scottish Church (opened 1909), service
10.30 a.m.; St. Andrew’s Church, Abu-el*Ela Bridge, Sharia Boulac;
service 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
—
Cabs. (If hired and discharged within the city circle) for 1 kilom. or
less, 3 piastres ; each kilom. beyond, 2 piastres ; for each wait of
15 minutes, 2 piastres. If by time, per hour or fraction, 10 piastres ; each
J hour beyond, 2 piastres. Motor cabs : first 1,200 metres or less,
5 piastres ; each 400 metres beyond, 1 piastre.
Donkeys may be hired at 12 piastres per day ; 2 piastres for a short
ride.
—
Baths. The Hammam, close to Shepheard’s Hotel, patronized almost
exclusively by English residents and visitors, provides every kind of bath
and massage.
Electric Tramways. — There are eight different lines, and the fares
j
are uniform : 1st class, 10 milliemes (piastre) ;

2nd class, 5 milliemes
ii piastre).
The principal centre is in the Atabeh el=Khadra. Routes: 1.
Atabeh el-Khadra to the Abbasiyeh. 2. Bab el-Hadid to the Nasriyeh.
3. Bulak to the citadel in the south-east part of the town. 4. Atabeh el-
Khadra to old Cairo {via Kasr en-Nil), south-west of the town. 5.
Atabeh el-Khadra to Shubra (branch to Rod el-Farag). 6. Midan ed-
Dahir to Seiyideh, Zeinab and Mawardi. 7. Atabeh el-Khadra to
Mawardi. 8. Kasr en-Nil to Bab el-Hadid.
A line also runs from the Kasr en-Nil to the Mena House Hotel and
to Gizah (for the Pyramids), cars about every half-hour, also to Heliopolis.
Omnibuses are mostly patronized by the poorer classes of natives.
Rail"
town, f
2. Pon
etc. 3
Hotel (
Posi
7.30 a.
* Tel<
of the
Sheph
el -Bos
Bri
Cons
U.4
1
Gene
Do
the h
Ch
Sund
Shep
Shar
(St.
10.3
serv
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4 1
5 P
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I
ex(
an
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(4
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»
t
—
AL-FUSJAT. 415
—
Theatres. Khedivial Opera House, next the Ezbekiyeh Gardens ;
Abbas Shareh Kantaret El-Dekka, Tewfikieh Das Nouveautes (variety)

;
Shareh Nubar Pasha.

—
Clubs. Mehemet Ali, Shareh Soliman Pacha Turf Club, Shareh El
;
Maghraby Khedivial Sporting Club, Ghezireh.

;
Steamers, see p. 24 local steamer excursions to the Barrage and

;
Bedrashen (for Memphis, Sakkarah, Helwan, &c.). Particulars of these

may be obtained from Cook’s Office.
—
Excursions. The following excursions may be made from Cairo :
I. Old Cairo and the Island of R6dah. 2. Tombs of the Khalifahs and
the Mamelukes; Mukattam Hills, the Petrified Forest and Spring ,of
Moses. 3. Heliopolis and the Virgin’s Tree. 4. Delta Barrage.
5. Pyramids of Gizah. 6. Memphis and Pyramids of Sakkarah.
The oldest Muhammadan capital of Egypt was called

“ Amplistat,” and was founded soon after the capture of the
Fortress Babylon, which fell into the hands of the Arabs on
April 9th, 641, by ‘Amr ibn al-‘Asi, the commander-in-chief of
the Khalifah ‘Omar. As to the meaning of the name Al-Fustat
there has been considerable discussion ; there is no reason
for doubting that Fustat: is connected with the Roman
“ fossatum,” and the Byzantine Greek cjooaaaTov, and that
Dozy in 1881 was correct * in assigning the meanings of “camp,
“campement, pavilion ” to the Arabic form, fustat .
On the other hand the Arabs, who probably learned the word
from the Romans in the fortress of Babylon, regarded the tent
of ‘Amr as the embodiment of their force, and it became to
them Al-Fustat. That this was so is proved by the story
quoted by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole ( The Middle Ages p. 17) ,
to the effect that when ‘Amr marched

north to take Alexandria,
his tent had been left standing, because he would not suffer
his servants to disturb the doves which were building their
nest there. “ When on the return from the conquest of
“ Alexandria the army set about building quarters for them-
“ selves, ‘Amr bade them settle around his still standing tent, and
“ the first Arab city of Egypt was ever afterwards known as
“el-Fust‘at, ‘the Tent,’ or Misr-el-Fust‘at, or simply Misr*” f
The site upon which Fustat was built was at that time “ waste
land and sown fields,” which extended from the Nile to the
Mukattam hills, and there were no buildings there except the
“ Castle of the Candle ” (Kasr ash-Shema) and Al-Mu‘allakah,
and there the Roman governor who ruled Egypt for the Caesars
stayed when he came horn Alexandria. This tract of ground
was divided into three parts, each of which was allotted to a
* Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes, Tom. II, Leyden, 1881, 266.
p.
t Stanley Lane- Poole, Cairo p. 40.
,
416 al-kAhirah.
certainnumber of Arab tribes; in the middle of it stood

‘Amr’s house, and opposite to it was built his mosque. In
751 there was added to this a suburb on the north-east which
was called Al- ‘Askar, “the Cantonments,” and to this
place the ‘AbbAsids removed the government offices. new A
palace and mosque and barracks were soon erected, and the
wealthier members of the community followed the example of
their ruler, and built themselves spacious houses in that
quarter; one of the governors, called HAtim, in 810 built a
summer palace on a spur of the Mukattam hills, where the
Citadel now stands, “and thither the emirs of Egypt often
resorted to enjoy the cool breeze.” In 870 Ahmad ibn Ttilhn
founded a royal suburb to the north-east of the Cantonments,
which he called Al = tCata‘i, or “ the Wards/’ because each class
or nationality had a special quarter assigned to it. new A
palace, with a large garden, etc., was built, and government
offices were made to the south of TAlhn’s mosque. The
palace was supplied with water from a spring in the southern
desert by means of an aqueduct. Tulun’s son KhumarCiyah
enlarged the palace, and made a garden wherein he planted
rare and exquisite roses. In the palace he set up colossal
wooden statues of himself and his wives, and “they were painted
u
and dressed to the life with gold crowns and jewelled ears
“ and turbans.” *
In 905 “ the Wards ” were destroyed by the ‘AbbAsid general,
Muhammad ibn Suleman, and by 1070 both “the Wards”
and “the Cantonments” had become such scenes of ruin that
a wall was built all the way from the “ new palace of Kahirah
“ to Fustat ... in order that the caliph when he rode out
“ might not be distressed by the sight of the dead cities.”
In 969 Gawhar, the commander-in-chief of the Khalifah Mu‘izz,
took possession of Fustat, and on the night of the 5 th of
August laid the foundations of a new city which he intended
his master to occupy. He marked out the boundaries of it
on the sandy waste which stretched north-east of Fustat on
the road to Heliopolis, and a square about a mile each way
was pegged out with poles. Each pole was joined with a rope
on which bells were hung, and it was arranged that when the
*
“In front of the palace he laid out a lake of quicksilver by the advice
‘ ‘
of his physician, who recommended it as a cure for his lord’s insomnia.
“ It was 50 cubits each way, and cost immense sums. Here the prince
“ lay on an air bed, linked by silk cords to silver columns on the margin,
“ and as he rocked and courted sleep his blue-eyed lion Zureyk faithfully
“ —
guarded his master.” Poole, Cairo , p. 87.
CAIRO, ITS GATES AND CITADEL. 417
astrologers gave the signal that a propitious moment had

arrived the first sods were to be turned. Whilst the artizans
were awaiting this signal a raven perched on one of the ropes
and set the bells ringing, when straightway every workman
thrust his spade into the ground and began to dig. At the
moment they did so the planet Mars, Al-Kahir, was in the
ascendant, which was held to be a bad omen, but the matter
could not be altered, and the new city was called after the
Arabic name of Mars, “ Kahirah,” the Victorious,” hence
the modern Cairo. As ‘Amr, the founder of Fustat, built a
mosque, so Gawhar, the founder of Cairo, built a mosque,
Al-Azhar, which is one of the chief ornaments of Cairo.
In 973 the Khalifah Mu‘izz, preceded by the coffins of his
ancestors, made an entry into the city which Gawhar had built
for him, and preached the Friday sermon in A 1 Azhar mosque.
Cairo, however, was not intended for the public of the capital,
and its exclusive character is indicated by the appellation
“ Al-Mahrftsah, ”z>., “ the guarded, ” which is sometimes attached
to the name of the city. The original walls were built of bricks
2 feet long and 1 foot 3 inches wide, and the walls were so
thick that two horsemen could ride abreast on them. In 1087
a new wall was built round Cairo, and the three great stone
gates, Bab An = Nasr, Bab AUFutuh, and Bab Zuwelah,
were removed and built within the new wall the three gates
;
are said to have been the work of three brothers from Edessa,
each of whom built one. This work was carried out by Badr
Al-Gamali in the reign of Mustansir. In the reign of Yusuf,
son of Ayyub, commonly known as Salah ad-Din, or
“SaladirV the famous Citadel of Cairo was founded; it took
30 years to build, and was not finished until the reign of
Kamil, his nephew. Most of the stone used in the construction
of the Citadel came from the smaller pyramids at Gizah.
Saladin built the famous dike at Gizah, and he founded a
number of colleges both in Cairo and Alexandria. On
January 22nd, 1517, the Egyptian army was defeated outside
Cairo, and on the following day Salim, Sultan of Turkey, was
publicly prayed for in all the mosques of Cairo ; thus Egypt
became a province of the Turkish Empire, with Cairo for its
capital.
The history of Cairo from this period to the time of the
French Expedition under Napoleon is of little interest, and
the chronicles of the governors recognized by Turkey resolve
themselves into little more than accounts of intrigues, rebellions,
;
41 8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN KHER AHA.
and murders. On Ju'y 21st, 1798, the Battle of the Pyramids

was fought, and Cairo then became the capital of a province
of the French Empire. In 1801 the French were obliged to
evacuate Egypt by the British, who restored the country to the
Turks. In 1881 a rebellion, headed by Arabi Pasha, broke
out in Cairo, and the Khedive, Tawfik Pasha, became a prisoner
in his palace. On September 13th, 1882, the forces of Arabi
were defeated, he himself fled, and on the following afternoon
General Drury-Lowe rode into Cairo. The garrison of Cairo
was in two parts ; one part, containing from 6,000 to 7,000
men, was at ‘Abbasiyah, and the other, which contained from
3,000 to 4,000 men, was in the Citadel ; the ‘Abbasiyah
men surrendered unconditionally on demand, and Captain
Watson, R.E., was sent on to demand a surrender of the
Citadel When he arrived at the Citadel, the Egyptian officer
at once agreed to surrender, the small British force entered the
gate, and the 4,000 Egyptians quickly piled their arms and
marched down to Kasr An-Nil Barracks. Two hours later the
Mukattam garrison above the Citadel surrendered, and Cairo
thus passed into the charge of the British.
The city of Cairo, which is now understood to include
Al-Fustat, as well as the later Kahirah, and the European
quarter, contained at the last census in 1907 some 654,476
inhabitants, of whom about 35,385 were foreigners. About
532,106 people were described as having a fixed place of abode
in the city, and about 257 were entered in the returns as
Badawin. The site now occupied by Al-Fustat and the Cairos
which have already been mentioned has probably been inhabited
for several thousands of years, for although Heliopolis stood so
near it, the needs of the riverside population must have made
a riverside town absolutely necessary. The geography of the
Delta in ancient Egyptian times does not permit any definite
statement to be made about the town which must have existed
near the old fortress of Babylon, but we know that when the
Nubian king, Piankhi, passed in his victorious progress from
Memphis to Heliopolis he entered a town called Kher-aha,
ffl
@ this town was on the eastern bank of the
Nile, and was near Heliopolis, and here the king poured out
a libation to Temu, the Sun-god of the evening. Kher-aha is
often mentioned in religious and mythological texts, and one
very ancient legend preserved in the Book of the Dead indicates
that the town was associated in the history of Osiris with the.
MODERN CAIRO. 419
overthrow of the foes of the god. Be that as it may, there

is good reason for supposing that Kher-aha was the ancient
counterpart of a portion of the modern Cairo.
Cairo is about 90 miles from Ismafiliyah, 130 from Alexandria,
about 160 from the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, about 14 from
the forking of the Nile, 450 from Luxor, 583 from Aswan, 802
from Wadi Halfah, 1,042 from Abu Hamad by rail (1,396 by
river), 1,752 from Khartum, and 3,312 from the Ripon Falls.
Tramways.— The traveller in Cairo will find the tramways
very convenient, for by means of them he will be able to visit
many of the outlying parts of the city quickly and cheaply.
The cars have been greatly improved in recent years, and on
the newer lines, e.g, those on the line to the new suburb of
Heliopolis, a considerable speed is attained. Carefully fitting
windows exclude the dust, and in the matter of blinds and
seats the cars leave little to be desired. In visiting the
Citadel, Bulak, Old- Cairo, etc., many interesting sights con-
nected with the daily life of the people may be witnessed.
The tramway centre is Atabah al-Khadrah, and trams run at
frequent intervals to Shubrah, Rod al-Farag, ‘Abbasiyab,
Biilak, Saptiah, Sayyidah Zenab, the Citadel, Old Cairo, Rodah
Island, Gizah, and Heliopolis. A tram line connects Kasr
an-Nil Bridge with the Pyramids, and there is an hourly
service. About the time of full moon for three nights each
month the service to and from Gizah is extended one hour.
Until the year 1883 Cairo could be regarded as a very fair
specimen of a large Oriental city, where Eastern life and
character could be studied with delightful ease ; and since its
inhabitants had for about 80 years been accustomed to the
sight of Europeans of all kinds, intercourse with them had lost,
outwardly at least, much of the intolerance and fanaticism which
characterize those of Damascus and Baghdad. IsmafiFs rail-
ways and telegraphs and other inventions of the Frangi or
European had shown them that the “ magic ” of the West
was more powerful, if not better, than their own, and the
traditions of the early years of the nineteenth century had
taught them that French and British soldiers were good fighting
men. There was a widespread belief that British influence in
Egypt tended towards freedom and security of life and property,
and their experience taught them that they would act wisely
in submitting to British discipline. This belief has resulted
in a rapid development of the city, and in no place is this
more apparent than Cairo, for in 20 years the capital has been
2 d 2
420 THE AMERICAN MISSION.
transformed from a picturesque but dirty Oriental town into

a well-kept, well-paved, and well-lighted city, in which most ol
the conveniences of life and means of locomotion have been
introduced. The main roads of the city have been macadam-
ized, the side walks have been paved, the alleys in the bazaars
have been asphalted, and the scavenging in most modern parts
of the city is effectively performed. The old oil and gas
lamps have been replaced by electric arc and incandescent
gas lamps, the streets have been named, and the traffic is regu-
lated by the police with considerable skill. The handsome
new buildings which are springing up in all neighbourhoods
testify to the securitywhich capital now enjoys, and the growth
of the city proves that its people are prosperous. The mixture
of Eastern and Western civilization which is found in many
parts of Cairo is very attractive, and there are still quarters
in it where, if properly introduced to native Egyptian gentle-
men, the traveller will find families living among mediaeval
surroundings, and men and women yet clinging with true
Oriental conservatism to many of the manners and customs and
forms of belief which their ancestors observed 1,000 years ago.
The stranger who is interested in the religious and educa-
tional agencies which are actively at work in Cairo may, with
advantage, pay a visit to the American Mission, the head-
quarters of which are situated close to Shepheard’s Hotel.
The first attempt made in modern times to introduce the
Gospel to the Egyptians was that of the Moravians, who, in
1752, at the instigation of Count Zinzendorf, despatched
Dr. Hooker to Cairo. He was followed by Pilder, Cassart,
Antes, Herman, Roller, and others. After 50 years’ desultory
labour the Moravians abandoned Egypt, leaving no trace of
their work behind them. They failed because they tried to
live as the natives lived, and on native food. The second
attempt was made by the Church Missionary Society, which
began its labours in 1819, and has continued them to the
present day. The American Mission was founded in 1854,
and profiting by the experience of their predecessors in Egypt,
its missionaries started their work on a system which has pro-
duced the most remarkable results. From first to last they have
devoted themselves to the people they came to help, and have
built churches, schools, hospitals, etc., paying heed to their
physical well-being and education as well as to the needs of their
souls. The men who have guided the policy of the Mission
have been shrewd as well as capable administrators, and their
MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 421
self-sacrifice and tenacity of purpose, to say nothing of

their religious zeal, are attestedby the survival of their institu-
tions, which are to be found, in some form or other, in all the
important towns of Egypt. Their rule demanded from each
missionary ten-year periods of unbroken residence in Egypt,
as long as health permitted, and this has given their work a
continuity and permanence of an unusual character. They
have worked with great success among the Copts, and this
community owes the American Mission a debt which is well-
nigh incalculable. The number of men who have been
appointed to the Mission in Egypt between July 14th, 1843, and
January 1st, 1908, is 136 ; of these 63 have retired or died.
They have 10 districts, 70 organized congregations, 192 places
of worship, and a total membership of 10,717. Their whole
Christian community numbers 40,000. Their schools are
181 with 17,530 students and 661 native workers. The native
contributions for church work amounted in 1910 to $50, 155, and
the natives paid for all purposes $ 1 7 8, 7 1 9. Of the pupils in the
schools 3,742 are Protestants, 9,053 Copts, 3,685 Muslims,
and 1,050 miscellaneous; in nationality 16,530 are Egyptians.
The Bibles, Books of the Bible, educational books, etc., sold
or distributed in 3910 were in number 94,111 receipts from
;
those sold amounted to $13,926.
1. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.

N.B. — The Museum closed on Fridays, and during Bairam
is
and Kurban Bairam, and on other official holidays.

Hours of Opening May 1st to October 31st, 8.30 a.m. to
:
1 p.m.
November 1st to April 30th, 9 a.m.
to 4.30 p.m.
Entrance Fees : In Summer, 1 piastre, excepting on Mon-
days, when it is free.
In Winter, 5 piastres.
Soldiers pay half a piastre in summer, and
2 piastres in the winter.
The nucleus of the great Khedivial collection of ancient
Egyptian antiquities of all periods, from about 4400 b.c. to
the end of the Roman rule in Egypt, was formed by the
eminent Frenchman, F. Auguste Ferdinand Mariette, a dis-
tinguished scholar and archaeologist, and an unselfish and
indefatigable worker in the cause of Egyptological science. In
the course of his excavations at Sakkarah, where he discovered
422 MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.
the Serapeum, he brought together a large number of miscel-

laneous antiquities, which were stored wherever a place could
be found to hold them. In the teeth of opposition made by
the notables of Cairo and Ministers of Government, he forced
the claims of archaeology under the notice of the Khedive Sa‘id
Pasha, who, soon after his succession in 1854, ordered that
a Museum of Egyptian Antiquities should be founded, and
appointed Mariette as its first Keeper. With the important
work of the Suez Canal in hand, it was unlikely that the
Egyptian Government would vote money for the building of a
museum to hold the monumental remains of a nation of
“ignorant unbelievers/’ whom every Egyptian believed God
had wiped off the face of the earth because of their “ unclean
wickedness,” and Mariette had therefore to take any empty
rooms in any Government building which could be found in
which to house his collection.
After much difficulty Mariette induced the authorities to
transfer to him portions of the old post-dffice at Bulak, the
port of Cairo, and in these the first Khedivial collection of
Egyptian antiquities was placed. goes without saying that
It
the building was unsuitable in every way, for the floors were
bad, the walls were too thin, the rooms were small, and the
most inexperienced thief could easily break in and help him-
self to the smaller objects which were placed in the wretched
receptacles which served as exhibition cases. It was found
in a very short time that the collection was growing too rapidly
for the space which Mariette had at his disposal, and, when all
the rooms were filled, he was obliged to store the cases of
antiquities in an outhouse or shed near, and to leave them
packed up. Whilst the work of collecting was thus going on,
Mariette devoted himself to the excavation and clearing out of
temples and other buildings in all parts of the country. In
1881 the great collection of royal mummies from Der al-Bahari
arrived, and the interest of these was so great that the cultured
opinion of the civilized world demanded that some systematic
arrangement of the contents of the Bulak Museum should be
made, and that steps should be taken for their better preser-
vation, for it was found that the damp in the old post-office
was doing harm to the more fragile of the antiquities. The
situation of the museum itself was alarming. On the one side
flowed the Nile, which more than once threatened to sweep
the whole building away, and the waters of which, on one
occasion, actually entered the courtyard, and on the other
were a number of warehouses of the flimsiest construction,

filled with inflammable stores, which might at any moment
catch fire and burn down the museum. Early in winter
mornings the building was often full of the white, clinging,
drenching mist, which is common along the banks of the river,
and it was no rare thing to see water trickling down inside the
glass cases which held the mummies of the great kings of Egypt.
At length the Egyptian Government was compelled to con-
sider seriously the problem of housing the monuments of the
Pharaohs, but the authorities were hampered by want of
funds ; finally, after much discussion, it was decided to transfer
the whole collection to the Palace of Gizah, which stands on
the left bank of the Nile, just opposite the Island of Rodah.
This palace was built by Ismafil Pasha to accommodate his
harim and cost between 4| and 5 millions of pounds sterling
,
!
The fabric itself was not strong for a building of the kind,
and the walls of hundreds of its rooms were made of lath
and plaster gilded and painted ; the outcry usually raised
by irresponsible persons against any proposal connected with
antiquities was made, but, under the circumstances, the Govern-
ment did the right thing. It fell to the duty of Sir Francis
(now Lord) Grenfell, K.C.B., to make arrangements for the
prevention of fire, and with the precautions taken by him, and
the rules which he enforced in person, the collection became
comparatively safe.
The removal of the antiquities from Bul&k to Gizah was
carried out in 1889. In 1895 the Public Debt Commissioners
voted the sum of ^CE. 110,000 for the building of a new fire-
proof museum, and the design of M. Dourgnon, a Parisian
architect, was selected by the jury, which consisted of an
Englishman, a Frenchman, and an Italian. The building was
offered for tender in 1896, the foundations were laid in 1897,
and the museum was finished towards the close of 1901 ; up
to the end of 1900 the total cost had been Ê. 169,00c. The
total cost of the museum has been Ê.25 1,000, and already
20,000 has been spent on the catalogue. The transfer of
the antiquities from Gizah to the new museum began on
December 3rd, 1901, and was completed on July 13th, 1902.
The inauguration ceremonies were performed in the presence
of Lord Cromer, Lord Kitchener, and about 100 of the nobles
and notables of Cairo on November 15th following.
As already said, the first Keeper of the Egyptian Museum
in Cairo was F. A. F. Mariette, who was born at Boulogne-
sur-Mer on February nth, 1821, and who died at Cairo in 1881.

He was appointed on the staff of the Louvre in 1848 ; he set
out on a mission to Egypt in search of Coptic and Syriac MSS.
in 1850 ; he discovered and excavated the Serapeum in 1852,
with a grant of 50,000 francs which had been voted by the
French National Assembly; he carried on excavations for the
Due de Luynes at Gizah in 1853 ; and in 1854 he was appointed
Assistant Curator at the Louvre. In the same year he was
appointed Keeper of the Bulak Museum, and the Khedive
Said Pasha made him a Bey. From 1855 to 1871 he worked
indefatigably, and the excavations which he carried out comprise
some of the greatest works of the kind ever done in Egypt.
Tanis, Abydos, Edfu, Karnak, Denderah, Madinat Habu,
Der al-Bahari, and many other sites were more or less
thoroughly explored by him ; he explored hundreds of mastabahs
in the cemeteries of Gizah, Sakkarah, and Medum, and he
opened the “ Mastabat al-Fir‘aun.” Whilst engaged in such
works he found time to write a Guide to the Museum, entitled
“Notice des principaux monuments exposes dans les galeries
provisoires du Musee d’Antiquites de S. A. le Khedive a
Boulaq,” which went through several editions; he edited
facsimiles of papyri, and published several volumes of valuable
Egyptian texts. The zeal and enthusiasm of Mariette con-
tributed largely to the advance of Egyptological science, and,
as a worker on broad, general lines of study, his equal will
not quickly be found. He died in 1881, and his body was
entombed in a marble sarcophagus which first stood in the
courtyard at Bulak, then was removed to Gizah in 1889, and
to the new Museum in Cairo in 1902. A statue and a monu-
ment toMariette Pasha were set up in 1904.
Mariette was succeeded by Professor Gaston Maspero,
K.C.M.G., who was born at Paris on June 23rd, 1846.
He took the degree of Docteur en Lettres in 1873 at TEcole
Normale, was made Professor of the College de France, in the
room of de Rouge, and Member of L’Academie des Inscriptions
in 1883, and Oxford conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L.
in 1886. As soon as he was appointed he began to arrange
and catalogue the antiquities at Bulak, and for the first time
it became possible to obtain an idea of the value and sequence
of the objects exhibited. The “ Guide du Visiteur au Musee

de Boulaq ” was a most useful work, for in it Professor Maspero
not only described his objects, but explained their use and
signification, and his “ Guide ” was in reality a manual of
;
archaeology. In addition to his work in connection with the

Museum Bulak, Professor Maspero carried out the excava-
at
tion of Luxor temple in 1884, 1885, and 1886, at the expense
of a fund which was raised by the Journal des Debats it has
been customary to ascribe this work to M. Grebaut, but this
savant only removed from Luxor to Cairo the antiquities
which Professor Maspero had found. in 1884 Professor
Maspero discovered the necropolis of Akhmim, from which
such excellent results were obtained ; he repaired Karnak,
and the eastern part of the hypostyle hall ; he cleared the
Ramesseum at Thebes, and repaired the temples at Abydos ;
he rebuilt the west part of the girdle wall at Edfu, covered
over the sanctuary, and repaired the little temple ; and he
carried on works of repair and excavation and clearing at
Kom Ombo, Al-Kab, Aswan, Shekh ‘Abd al-Kurnah, Asyut,
Barshah, Beni Hasan, Tell al-‘Amarna, Sakkarah, etc. Professor
Maspero is the author of a large number of works, many
of them containing editions of most valuable texts, and
his Histoire Ancienne in three volumes is a monument of
learning. One of his greatest works undoubtedly is the
edition of the texts that were found in the pyramid tombs of
Unas, Teta, and other early kings, which he published with
translations in French. These documents are of priceless
value for the study of the religion of ancient Egypt, and their
decipherment and publication are the greatest triumph of
Egyptology. They reveal a phase of civilization in Egypt of
which there are no other records than these in writing, and
certain portions of them must be coeval with the historic culture
of Egypt. In 1886, for private reasons, Professor Maspero
resigned his appointment as Keeper of the Bulak Museum,
and was succeeded by M. Grebaut, the author of an excellent
edition of a famous Hymn to Amen-Ra ; he increased the
collectionunder his charge considerably, and brought many
valuable monuments from all parts of Egypt to the Museum at
Gizah ; he discovered a large number of the mummies of
priests of Amen, with their coffins, etc., at Der al-Bahari.
Under his the Egyptian collection was removed from
rule
Bulak to the Palace of Gizah.
M. Grebaut was, in turn, succeeded in 1892 by M. J. Marie
de Morgan, who was born on June 3rd, 1857, at the Chateau
de Bion, Loir-et-Cher though he studied archaeology for more
;
than 20 years, he is a trained mathematician, engineer, and

geologist, and he has turned his training to good account, for
4^6 MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.
he has conducted excavations according to scientific methods,

with unusually successful results. Since 1897, when he resigned
his appointment, he has been engaged in carrying out excava-
tions at Susa and other places in the country which was called
Elam by ancient nations ; fortune has favoured his labours,
and made him the discoverer of the basalt stele which is
inscribed in Babylonian characters with the text of the “ Code
of Laws” of Khammurabi, king of Babylon, about 2200 b.c.
M. de Morgan has travelled over all Persia, Luristan, Kurdistan,
Armenia, and Mesopotamia, and is the author of numerous
learned works. In connection with Egyptology it may be
mentioned that he was the discoverer of the pre-dynastic and
early archaic tombs at Nakadah in Upper Egypt, and it was he
who first showed the correct position in the history of Egypt
of the people who were erroneously called the New Race.
M. de Morgan was succeeded in M. Victor Loret,
1897 by
who is the author of Manuel de Langue Egyptienne Paris,
la ,
1891 ;
of La Flore pharaonique Paris, 1892
,
and of several
;
In 1898 he discovered in the

articles in various publications.
tomb of Amen-hetep II at Thebes the mummies of several
kings of the XVIIIth and later dynasties, and among them
was the mummy
of Menephthah, the “ Pharaoh of the
Oppression,” whom many believed to have been drowned in
the “ Red Sea” when the Egyptians were overwhelmed in the
days of Moses. In 1899 M. Loret resigned, and M. Maspero
returned to his former position of Keeper of the Egyptian
Museum, and during the second period of his rule he has
renewed the wise and liberal policy with which all are familiar.
Under his guidance the Egyptian collection has been removed
from the Palace of Gizah to the new Museum in the European
quarter of Cairo, and the interests of Egyptology, both
archaeological and philological, are well guarded. Those who
are interested in watching the progress of archaeological works
in Egypt under his direction should consult his Report for
1904, published in \X\e Report upon Public Works for 1904 by
Sir William Garstin, Cairo, 1905, his Les Temples Immerges ,
Cairo, 1909-10, etc. The various Keepers of the Egyptian

Museum have for 40 years or more been ably seconded in all
their endeavours by Emil Brugsch Pasha (brother of Dr. H.
Brugsch, the eminent Egyptologist), the Conservator of the
Museum, to whom the arrangement and classification of the
antiquities therein were chiefly due. He holds the traditions
of the great Mariette, having been his fellow-worker, and
—
possesses an unrivalled knowledge of sites and of all matters

relating to excavations ; his learning and courtesy are too well
known to need further mention. The Assistant Conservators
are M. G. Daressy and Ahmad
Kamal Bey, etc.
Tickets for inspecting the temples, price 120 piastres,
may be purchased here. Formerly Messrs. Thos. Cook &
55 55
Son printed in their “Guide to Egypt and in “Nile Notes
a summary of the contents of the rooms of the Egyptian
Museum, but as M. Maspero has issued a “ Guide to the
55
Cairo Museum, they have decided to omit such summary here.
The Egyptian Collection in Cairo is the richest in the
world in monuments of the first six dynasties, but in some
classes of antiquities its collections are poor. No visitor
should omit to see :
1. The painted mastabah doors and statues of

dynasties IV- V*I.
2. The Shekh aUBalad.
3. The Inscriptions of Una and Her = Khuf.
4. The Statues of Mycerinus and Khephren.
5. The Tomb of Heru = hetep.
6. The Sphinxes and monuments from Tanis.
7. The Stelae of Piankhi and other Nubian Kings from
Gebel Barkal.
8. The Statue of Amenartas.
9. The Tablet of Sakkarah.
10. The Stele of Pithom.
11. The Stele of Canopus.
12. Tell al = ‘Amarna Tablets.
The
13. The Royal Mummies from Der al-Bahari.
14. The papyrus containing the Maxims of Ani.
15. The Fayyum Papyrus.
16. The Dahshur jewellery.
17. The jewellery of Aah = hetep.
18. The green slate shield of Narmer.
19. The leather body of the chariot of 1 hothmes IV.
20. Typical examples of all the painted coffins.
21. The “find of statues made Karnak by
55
at
M. George Legrain.
22. The contents of the tomb of luaa and Thuaa, the
and mother of Queen Thi, discovered by
father
Mr. Theodore M. Davis in 1905.
23. The Cow of Hathor, discovered by Prof. Naville at
Der aUBahari in 1906.
— —
In a room attached to the Museum visitors may purchase

Egyptian antiquities, and as many travellers wish to take away
with them a scarab or a usliabti figure, or some small object
which was buried with the mummy, the following notes, which
explain the commonest of them, are added :
Ushabtiu figures are made of stone, alabaster, wood, and

glazed faience and are in the form of the god Osiris, who is here
,
represented in the form of a mummy. They were placed in

the tomb to do certain agricultural works for the deceased, who
was supposed to be condemned to sow the fields, to fill the
canals with water, and to carry sand from the East to the West.
They are usually inscribed with the Vlth Chapter of the Book
of the Dead. As many travellers buy ushabtiu figures in Egypt,
the following version of the chapter may be of interest to
them :
° -£2>-
ij
1 AAAAAA
(]- jj^l
a ushabtiu apen dr aptu Asar
O ushabtiu figures these, if is decreed Osiris
er arit ?iebt arit dm

to do labours any [which] are to be done there
neter khert astu hu - nef setchebu dm

the underworld, behold, be there smitten down for him obstructions there
em sa er khert -
f maku - a
for a person beneath him. Here am I
ka - ten dp - tu - ten er emm neb

[when] call ye. Watch ye at moment every
ant dm er serutet sekhet er setnehi

to work there, to plough the fields, to fill with water
0 —
uiebu
-er khen
o III
shd
V
en
A
abtet
the canals, to carry sand of the east
/WWW
0^3 I I I
er amentet thes rer mciku -ci ka - ten

to west, and vice versa. Here am I [when] call ye.
That is to say, the deceased addresses each figure and says,

“ the Osiris,” that is, the deceased, “is
ushabtiu figures, if
decreed to do any work whatsoever in the underworld may all

obstacles be cast down in front of him ” The figure answers !
and says, “ Here am I ready when ye call.” The deceased

next says, “ O ye figures, be ye ever watchful to work, to
plough and sow the fields, to water the canals, and to carry
sand from the east to the west.” The figure replies, “ Here
am I when ye call.”
Amulets.
1. The Tet, ||,
usually made of some red stone, the
colour of which was intended to represent the blood of Isis;

it was placed on the neck of the to which it gave the mummy
magic protection of the blood of Isis. It was often inscribed
with the CLYIth Chapter of the Book of the Dead.
2. The T e t> jj,

or backbone of Osiris, which had sometimes
plumes, disk, and horns, ^ ,

attached to it, was also placed
on the neck of the mummy, and

was often inscribed with the
CLVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead.
3. The Vulture, was placed upon the neck of the
mummy on the day of the funeral, and brought with it the

protection of the “mother” Isis.
4. The Collar, was placed upon the neck of the
mummy on the day of the funeral.
5. The Papyrus Sceptre, was placed upon the neck of

J,
the mummy, and typified the green youth which it was hoped
the deceased would enjoy in the nether world.
6. The Pillow, usually made of haematite, was generally
inscribed with the CLXVIth Chapter of the Book of the Dead.

j
43 ° MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.
7 . The Heart, 'O’, represented the “soul of Khepera.”

8. The Ankh, represented “ Life.”
9. The Utchat, or Symbolic Eye, typified “good

health and happiness,” and was a very popular form of amulet
in Egypt.
10. The Nefer, represented “good-luck,”

J,
11. The Sma, represented “union.”
12. The Menat, (^, represented “virility.”

3
13. The Neha, [p represented “ protection.”
,
14. The Serpent’s Head, f) was placed in mummies

, to
prevent their being devoured by worms.
15. The Frog, represented “ fertility ” and “abund-

ance.”
16.
heaven.
The Stairs, ^ ,
were the symbol of ascending to
17. The Fingers, index and medius, found inside mum-

mies, represented the two fingers which the god Horus stretched
out to help the deceased up the ladder to heaven.
—
Scarabs. Scarab or Scarabaeus (from the Greek (ncapa/3 o?)
is the name given by Egyptologists to the myriads of models
of a certain beetle, which are found in mummies and tombs

and in the ruins of temples and other buildings in Egypt, and
in other countries the inhabitants of which, from a remote
period, had intercourse with the Egyptians. M. Latreille
considered the species which he named Ateuchus Aegyptiornm ,
or yXiOKavOapos, and which is of a fine greenish colour, as

that which especially engaged the attention of the early
Egyptians, and Dr. Clarke affirmed that it was eaten by the
women of Egypt because it was considered to be an emblem
of fertility. In these insects a remarkable peculiarity exists in
the structure and situation of the hind legs, which are placed
so near the extremity of the body, and so far from each other,
as to give them a most extraordinary appearance when walking.
This peculiar formation is, nevertheless, particularly serviceable
to its possessors in rolling along the balls of excrementitious
matter on which they feed. These balls are at first irregu-
larly shaped and soft, but by degrees, and during the process
SCARABS. 43 1
of rolling along, become rounded and harder ; they are

propelled by means of the hind legs. Sometimes these balls
are an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, and in rolling
them along the beetles stand almost upon their heads, with the
heads turned from the balls. They do this in order to bury
their balls in holes which ihey have already dug for them,
and it is upon the dung just deposited that the beetle feeds.
Horapollo thought that the beetle was self-produced, but he

made this mistake on account of the females being exceedingly
like the males, and because both sexes appear to divide the care
of the preservation of their offspring equally between them.
The Egyptians called both the scarabaeus Khepera
,
and the god represented by this insect also Khepera
The god Khepera was supposed to be the

“ father of the gods,” and the creator of all things in heaven
and earth he made himself out of matter which he himself
;
had made. He was identified with the rising sun and thus
typified resurrection. The verb Kheper ^ D ) which is

,
usually translated “to exist, to become,” also means “to roll,”

and “roller,” or “revolver,” was a fitting name for the sun.
In a hieratic papyrus in the British Museum (No. io, 188),
the god Khepera is identified with the god Neb-er-tcher,
who,
men, animals, and things,
in describing the creation cf gods,
says :
—
“ I am he who evolved himself under the form of the
“ god Khepera. I, the evolver of evolutions, evolved myself,
“ the evolver of all evolutions, after a multitude of evolutions
“ and developments* which came forth from my mouth (or at
“ my command). There was no heaven, there was no earth,
* The duplicate copy of this chapter reads, “ I developed myself from
“ the primeval matter which I made. My name is Osiris, the germ of
“ primeval matter. I have worked my will to its full extent in this earth,
“ I have spread abroad and filled it I uttered my name as a word
“ of power, from my own mouth, and I straightway developed myself by
“ evolutions. I evolved myself under the form of the evolutions of the
“ god Khepera, and I developed myself out of the primeval matter which
“ has evolved multitudes of evolutions from the beginning of time.
“ Nothing existed on this earth [before me], I made all things. There
“ was none other who worked with me at that time. I made all evolutions
“ by means of that soul which l raised up there from inertness out of the
watery matter,”
—
432 SCARABS.
“ animals which move upon the earth and reptiles existed not
at all in that place. constructed their forms out of the
I
“ inert mass of watery matter, I found no place there where
“ I could stand. By the strength which was in my will
“ I laid the foundation [of things] in the form of the god
“ Shu and I created for them every attribute which they
“ have. I alone existed, for I had not as yet made Shu to
“ emanate from me, and I had not ejected the spittle which
“ became the god Tefnut ; there existed none other to work
“ with me. By my own will I laid the foundations of all things,
“ and the evolutions of the things, and the evolutions which
“ took place from the evolutions of their births which took
“ place through the evolutions of their offspring, became
“ multipled. My shadow was united with me, and I pro-
“ duced Shu and Tefnut from the emanations of my body,
“ thus from being one god I became three gods
“ I gathered together my members and wept over
“ them, and men and women sprang into existence from the
“ tears which fell from my eye.”
Scarabs may be divided into three classes :
i. Funereal
scarabs 2. Scarabs worn for ornament
; Historical
; 3.
scarabs. Of funereal scarabs the greater number found
measure from half an inch to two inches, and are made of steatite
glazed green, or blue, or brown, granite, basalt, jasper, amethyst,
lapis-lazuli, carnelian, and glass. The flat base of the scarabs was
used by the Egyptians for engraving with names of gods, kings,
priests, officials, private persons, monograms and devices. Scarabs
were set in rings and worn on the fingers by the dead and living,
and were wrapped up in the linen bandages with which the
mummy was swathed, and placed over the heart. The best
class of funereal scarabs was made of a fine, hard, green
basalt, which, when the instructions of the rubric concerning
them in the Book of the Dead were carried out, was set in
a gold border, and hung from the neck by a fine gold wire.
Such scarabs are sometimes joined to a heart on which is
inscribed the legend
4
‘life, stability, and well being”
fl
Funereal scarabs were also set in pectorals, and were in this
case ornamented with figures of the deceased adoring Osiris.
Scarabs of all kinds were kept in stock by the Egyptian
undertaker, and spaces were left blank in the inscriptions* to
add the names of the persons for whom they were bought.
* The chapter usually inscribed upon these scarabs is No. 30 B.
MUMMIES. 4 33
Scarabs worn for ornament exist in many thousands.

By an easy transition, the custom of placing scarabs on the
bodies of the dead passed to the living, and men and women
wore the scarab probably as a silent act of homage to the
creator of the world, who was not only the god of the dead,
but of the living also. Historical scarabs appear to be
limited to a series of four, which were made during the reign
of Amenophis III to commemorate certain historical events,
viz. : i. slaughter of 102 lions by Amenophis during the
The
first ten years of his reign ; 2. A
description of the boundaries
of the Egyptian Empire, and the names of the parents of
Queen Thi ; 3. The arrival of Thi and Gilukhipa in Egypt,
together with 317 women; 4. The construction of a lake in
honour of Queen Thi.
Mummy. Whether the — art of mummifying was known to
the aboriginal inhabitants of Egypt, or whether it was intro-
duced by the newcomers from Asia, is a question which is
very difficult to answer. We
know for a certainty that the stele
of a dignitary preserved at Oxford was made during the reign
of Sent, the fifth king of the Ilnd dynasty, about 4000 b.c.
The existence of this stele, with its figures and inscriptions,
points to the fact that the art of elaborate sepulture had
reached a high pitch in those early times. The man for
whom it was made was called Shera, and he held the
^ (j
dignity of neter hen , or “ prophet ” ;

the stele also tells us
|
that he was suten rekht, or “ royal kinsman. ”

I The
TH ^
inscriptions contain prayers asking for the deceased in the
nether-world “ thousands of oxen, linen bandages, cakes,
“ vessels of wine, incense, &c.,” which fact shows that religious
belief, funereal ceremonies, and a hope for a life after death
had already become a part of the life of the people of Egypt.
During the reign of King Sent the redaction of a medical
papyrus was carried out. As this work presupposes many
years of experiment and experience, it is clear that the
Egyptians possessed ample anatomical knowledge for mummi-
fying a human body. Again, if we consider that the existence
of this king is proved by papyri and contemporaneous monu-
ments, and that we know the names of some of the priests
who took part in funereal ceremonies during his reign, there
2 E
434 MUMMIES.
is no difficulty in acknowledging that the antiquity is great of

such ceremonies, and that they presuppose a religious belief in
the revivification of the body, for which hoped-for event the
Egyptian took the greatest possible care to hide and preserve
his body.
“ Mummy ” is the term which is generally applied to the
body of a human being, or animal, bird, fish, reptile, which has
been preserved from decay by means of bitumen, spices, gums,
and natron. As far as can be discovered, the word is neither
a corruption of the ancient Egyptian word for a preserved
body, nor of the more modern Coptic form of the hieroglyphic
name. The word “ mummy ” is found in Byzantine Greek and
in Latin, and indeed in almost all European languages. It
/- cT
is derived from the Arabic mumia ,

“ bitumen ” ;
the
9
Arabic word for mummy is 'il^cyc mumiyyat and means a ,
‘bitumenized thing/’ or a body preserved by bitumen.

We obtain our knowledge of the way in which the ancient
Egyptians mummified their dead from Greek historians, and
from an examination of mummies. According to Herodotus
(ii, 86) the art of mummifying was carried on by a special guild
of men who received their appointment by law. These men

mummified bodies in three different ways, and the price to be paid
for preserving a body varied according to the manner in which
the work was done. In the first and most expensive method
the brain was extracted through the nose by means of an iron
probe, and the intestines were removed entirely from the body
through an incision made in the side with a sharp Ethiopian
stone. The intestines were cleaned and washed in palm wine,
and, having been covered with powdered aromatic gums, were
placed in jars. The cavity in the body was filled up with
myrrh and cassia and other fragrant and astringent substances,
and was sewn up again. The body was next laid in natron for
70 days,* and when these were over, it was carefully washed,
and afterwards wrapped up in strips of fine linen smeared on
their sides with gum. The cost of mummifying a body in this
fashion was a talent of silver, i.e., about ^240, according to
Diodorus (i, 91, 92). In the second method of mummifying
the brain was not removed at all, and the intestines were simply
dissolved and removed in a fluid state. The body was also laid
* In Genesis 1, the number given is 40.
3,
MUMMIES. 435
in salt or natron which, it is said, dissolved everything except the

skin and bones. The cost of mummifying in this manner was
20 minae, or about ^20. The third method of embalming
was employed for the poor only. It consisted simply of cleaning
the body by injecting some strong astringent, *and then salting
the body for 70 days. The cost in this case was very little.
The account given by Diodorus agrees generally with that
of Herodotus. He adds, however, that the incision was made
on the left side of the body, and that the “ dissector ” having
made the incision fled away, pursued and stoned by those who
had witnessed the ceremony. It would seem that the dissector
merely fulfilled a religious obligation in fleeing away, and that
he had not much to fear. Diodorus goes on to say that the
Egyptians kept the bodies of their ancestors in splendid
chambers, and that they had the opportunity of contemplating
the faces of those who died before their time. In some
particulars he is right, and in others wrong. He lived too late
(about 40 B.c.) to know what the well-made Theban mummies
were like, and his experience therefore would only have
familiarized him with the Egypto-Roman mummies, in which
the limbs were bandaged separately, and the contour of their
faces, much blunted, was to be seen through the thin and
tightly-drawn bandages which covered the face. In such
examples the features of the face can be clearly distinguished
underneath the bandages.
An examination of Egyptian mummies will show that the
accounts given by Herodotus and Diodorus are generally
correct, for mummies with and without ventral incisions are
found, and some are preserved by means of balsams and
gums, and others by bitumen and natron. The skulls of
mummies, which may be seen by hundreds in caves and pits
at Thebes, contain absolutely nothing, a fact which proves
that the embalmers were able not only to remove the brain,
but also to take out the membranes without injuring or
breaking the nose in any way. The heads of mummies are
found, at times, to be filled with bitumen, linen rags, or resin.
The bodies, which have been filled with resin or some such
substance, are of a greenish colour, and the skin has the
appearance of being tanned. Such mummies, when unrolled,
perish rapidly and break easily. Usually, however, the resin
and aromatic gum process is favourable to the preservation of
the teeth and hair. Bodies from which the intestines have
been removed, and which have been preserved by being
2 e 2
;
43 6 MUMMIES.
filledwith bitumen, are quite black and hard. The features

are preserved intact, but the body is heavy and unfair to look
upon. The bitumen penetrates the bones so completely that
it is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is bone and what
is bitumen. The arms, legs, hands, and feet of such mummies
break with a sound like the cracking of chemical glass tubing
they burn freely. Speaking generally, they will last for ever.
When a mummy has been preserved by natron, that is, a mixture
of carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, the skin is found to
be very hard, and it hangs loosely from the bones in much the
same way as it hangs from the skeletons of the monks preserved
in the crypt beneath the Capuchin convent at Floriana in Malta.
The hair of such mummies usually falls off when touched.
When the friends of a dead Egyptian were too poor to pay
for a good, expensive method of embalmment, the body could
be preserved by two very cheap methods ; one method was to
soak it in salt and hot bitumen, and the other in salt only.
In the salt and bitumen process every cavity of the body was
filled with bitumen, and the hair disappeared. Clearly it is
to the bodies which were preserved in this way that the name
“ mummy/’ or bitumen, was first applied. The salted and dried
body is easily distinguishable. The skin is like paper, the features
and hair have disappeared, and the bones are very brittle and
white. The art of mummifying arrived at the highest pitch of
perfection at Thebes. The mummies of the first six dynasties
drop to pieces on exposure to the air, and smell slightly of
bitumen ; those of the Xlth dynasty are of a yellowish colour
and very brittle those of the Xllth dynasty are black. The
;
method of embalming varied at different periods and places.

From the XVIIIth to the XXIst dynasties the Memphis
mummies are black, while those made at Thebes during the
same period are yellowish in colour, and have the nails of the
hands and feet dyed yellow with the juice of the henna plant.
After the XXVIth dynasty the mummies made at both places
are quite black and shapeless ; they are also very heavy and
tough, and can only be broken with difficulty. What the mum-
mies which were made three or four hundred years after Christ
are like, the writer, never having seen one unrolled, is unable
to say. About ioo b.c. the Greeks began to paint the portrait
of the dead upon the wrappings which covered the face.
The art of mummifying was carried on in Egypt for nearly
500 years after the birth of Christ, for the Greeks and Romans
adopted the custom freely. We may therefore say that we
MUMMIES. 437
know for a certainty that the art of embalming was known

and practised for about 5,000 years.
In the account of embalming given us by Herodotus, we are
told that the internal organs of the body were removed, but he
does not say what was done with them. We now know that
they also were mummified and were preserved in four jars, the
covers of which were made in the shape of the heads of the four
children of Horus, the genii of the dead, whose names were
Mesta (or, Kesta), Hapi, Tuamutef, and Qebhsenuf, These
genii have been compared with the four beasts in the Revelation
(chap, iv, 7). The jars and the genii to whom they were
dedicated were under the protection of Isis, Nephthys, Neith
and Serq respectively. They are called Canopic jars,
because they resemble the vase shape of Osiris called Canopus,
and they are made of Egyptian porcelain, marble, calcareous
stone, terra-cotta, wood, etc. The jar of Mesta received
the large intestines, that of Hapi the smaller intestines, that of
Tuamutef the heart, and that of Qebhsennuf the liver. Each
jar was inscribed with a legend stating that the genius to
whom it was dedicated protected and preserved the part of
the dead body that was in it. In the case of poor people
who could not afford a set of Canopic jars, it was usual to have
a set of wax figures made in the shape of the four genii of
the dead, and to place them in the dead body with the
intestines, which were put back. In the time of the XXVIth
dynasty, and later, poverty or laziness made people consider
the interior parts of the body to be sufficiently well guarded if
figures of these genii were roughly drawn on the linen bandages.
It was customary at one time to lay a set of these figures, made
of porcelain or bead-work, upon the chest of the mummy.
was the fashion some years ago to state in books of history
It
that the ancient Egyptian was a negro, and some distinguished
historians still make notwithstanding Professor
this statement,
Owen’s distinct utterance, “ taking the
sum of the correspond-
“ ence notable in collections of skulls from Egyptian graveyards
“ as a probable indication of the hypothetical primitive race
“ originating the civilised conditions of cranial departure from
“ the skull-character of such race, that race was certainly not
“ of the Australoid type, is more suggestive of a northern
“ Nubian or Berber basis. But such suggestive characters
“maybe due to intercourse or ‘admixture’ at periods later
“ than [the] Xlllth dynasty they are not present, or in a
;
“ much less degree, in the skulls, features, and physiognomies

—
43 8 MUSEUM OF ARAB ART.
“ of individuals of from the Illrd to the Xllth dynasties.”

The character of the ancient Egyptian, and of the race to which
he belonged, has been vindicated by examinations of the skulls
of Egyptian mummies. If the pure ancient Egyptian, as found
in mummies and represented in paintings upon the tombs, be
compared with the negro, we shall find that they are absolutely
unlike in every important particular. The negro is prognathous,
but the Egyptian is orthognathous ; the bony structure of the
negro is heavier and stronger than that of the Egyptian ; the hair
of the negro is crisp and woolly, while that of the Egyptian is
smooth and fine. It may be pointed out that the Egyptians
originally took trouble to preserve the bodies of the dead because
they believed that after a series of terrible combats in the under-
world, the soul, triumphant and pure, would once more return to
the clay in which it had formerly lived. It was necessary, then, to
preserve the body that it might be ready for the return of the
soul. It was also necessary to build large and beautiful tombs,
in order that the triumphant soul, having revivified its ancient
house of clay, and proper abode in which to
might have a fit
dwell. The pyramid tombs by the kings of the earlier

built
dynasties, and the vast many-chambered sepulchres hewn in
the sides of the Theban hills during the XVIIIth and XIXth
dynasties, were not built to gratify the pride of their owners.
The belief concerning mummification seems to have been
considerably modified at a later period, for the evidence now
available indicates that the later Egyptians preserved the
material body in order that the spiritual body might spring
from it, which result was partly due to the ceremonies
performed and the words recited at the tomb by the priests
and pious persons.
2. The Museum of Arab Art.
Hours ofOpening :
November ist to April 30th, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ;

Entrance
Fee, 5 piastres.
May 1 st to October 31st, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ;
Entrance
Fee, t piastre.
This Museum is closed on Fridays and holidays.
The collections which illustrate Arab art are arranged in a
building close to the Mosque of Al-Hakim, and are well worth
a visit. The foundation of a museum of this kind was ordered
by Ismafil Pasha in 1869, who commissioned Franz Pasha to
make collections of all objects which illustrated the develop-
—
KH EDI VIAL LIBRARY. 439
ment of Arab art these were arranged in the arcades of the

;
Li wan of the Mosque of Al-Hakim. Nothing, however, was done

in the way of providing a special location for the collections until
1 88 1, when the Government decided to build a museum the ;
courtyard of the mosque was selected as the site, and a museum

was built there in 1883. In 1892 Herz Bey was appointed
Keeper of the collections. As soon as it became understood
that a special building had been erected for works of Arab art,
the collections increased with great rapidity, and it was decided
by the Government to provide more accommodation for them
on a site in the Midan Bab aLKhalk, together with new rooms
for the Khedivial Library. The new Museum was finished
in 1903, and Herz Bey removed his collections into it in the
same year. The traveller is referred to his excellent “ Cata-
logue Sommaire,” published in Cairo in 1894, for detailed
descriptions of the splendid Arab glass lamps and the other
objects worth examination, which are under his care. The
lower portion of the building has been devoted to the housing
of the Khedivial Library which was founded by Ismahl Pasha,
and is said to contain about 50,000 manuscripts and books
in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and other Oriental languages.
Hours of Opening :
October 1st to June 30th, 8 am. to one hour before

sunset.
July, August, September, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In Ramadan, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Library is open daily, Fridays and holidays excepted.
Admission to the Reading Room and Exhibition Room is
free. The Library receives an annual grant of Ê.4,000
from the Government, and Ê.500 from the Wakfs Adminis-
tration. The first Librarian was the eminent Arabic scholar,
Dr. Stern, who was succeeded by Dr. Spitta Bey, the author
of several works on modern Egyptian Arabic, and he was in
turn succeeded by Dr. Vollers ; the present Librarian is
Dr. Moritz. The total cost of the new Museum and the
fittings for the Library has been Ê.66,000, and it is charac-
teristic of the feelings entertained among natives in respect
of the ancient monuments of the country, that this expendi-
ture has been the subject of much animadversion and criticism
in native quarters. At the end of 1909 the number of volumes
in the Library was 70,580; number of students, 19,000;
visitors to the exhibition rooms, 22,000. The number of
volumes issued was 25,000.
44 ° ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, AQUARIUM, AND MOSQUES.
3.
The Zoological Gardens.
These Gardens were established in 1891, and enlarged in
1898 and 1903; they cost Ê. 7,400, and their upkeep costs
about Ê.4,000 a year. The area of the Gardens is about
52 acres. In 1909 the number of specimens was 1,382,
representing 387 species.
The Gardens are open daily.
Entrance Fees: —
Week-days, ^ piastre each person.
4. Sundays, 5 piastres „ „
On the day Shem an-Nassim, 10 ,, „ ,,
Under the capable management of the Director, Captain

Stanley Flower, the Gardens are becoming a most pleasant place
of recreation, and a valuable means of education in all that
appertains to the birds, animals, etc., of North-east Africa.
The Aquarium at Gazirah.

5.
An Aquarium was established at Gazirah in November, 1902,
at a cost of Ê. 1,150, and placed under the direction of
Captain Flower. It contains a number of varieties of Nile fish,
which have never before been kept in captivity. The gardens
are beautiful, and are weil worth visiting.
Hours of Opening —
Daily, from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
:
—
Entrance Fees: One half-piastre on week-days, and one
piastre on Sundays.
The Mosques of Cairo.

The Mosque of ‘Amr was built643, by ‘Amr ibn
a.d.
al-‘Asi, theconqueror of Egypt, but hardly a trace of the original
building now remains in it. The “ Mosque of Conquests,” or
the “ Crown of Mosques,” as ‘Amr’s Mosque was called, was
originally a plain “ oblong room about 200 feet long by 56 feet
“ wide, built of rough brick, unplastered, with a low roof, sup-
“ ported probably by a few columns, with holes for light.
“ There was no minaret, no niche for prayer, no decoration,
“ no pavement. Even the pulpit which ‘Amr set up was
“removed when the Caliph wrote, in reproach, ‘Is it not
“ enough for stand whilst the Muslims sit at thy
thee to
”
“feet? 5
The mosque was
enlarged in 673 by taking in
a part of ‘Amr’s house, and a raised station was made at
each corner for the Mueddin to cry the call to prayer. The
whole building was pulled down in 698 and rebuilt on a much
larger scale, but “ what we see to-day is practically the mosque
THE MOSQUES OF CAIRO. 441
44
built in 827 by ‘Abd- Allah ibn Tahir, and restored by
“ Murad Bey in 1798, just before he engaged the French in
“ the ‘
Battle of the Pyramids at Embaba.”’
The columns of
the mosque were originally 366 in number, but of many only
the bases now remain ; in the north-east corner is the grave of
‘Amr’s son, ‘Abd-Allah. The court measures 400 feet by
350 feet. This mosque, though not attractive, is held in the
highest veneration by Muhammadans, and Mr. Lane tells us
that they believe God will answer with special favour the
prayers which are made there. In consequence of this, devout
and learned men pray there for a “good Nile,” and sometimes
for rain, and it is recorded that on one day during a period
of prolonged drought (1823-1828), Muslims, Christians, and
Jews went there and all together prayed for rain. On the
following day it rained.* At the present time the mosque is
a very favourite place of prayer on the last Friday of the month
of Ramadan. A
legend says that one of the pillars was made
to fly through the air from Mecca to Cairo by a blow from
Muhammad’s whip, and that two of the pillars are placed so
closely together that only a true believer can squeeze between
them.
The Mosque of Husen is a comparatively modem building,
which was erected to enshrine the head of Husen, son of ‘Ali,
the son in-law of the Prophet; he was slain at the Battle of
Karbala, a.d. 680. The head was first sent to Damascus, and
then to Cairo, and was preserved in a chest of silver which is
buried underground. Ibn Juber says that the mosque con-
tained a black stone in which the whole person of the beholder
was reflected as “ in an Indian steel mirror newly polished,”
and that he saw the people kissing and embracing the tomb in
transports of devotion and affection.
The Mosque AUAzhar, /.<?., “the Resplendent,” was
founded by Gawhar, the general of the Fatimid Khalifah, on
Sunday, April 3rd, 970, and it was finished on June 24th,
972. The mosque was turned into a university in 988, and at
the present time it is the largest university in the Muslim
world. Very little of the original building now remains, for
the restorations which have been made in ancient and modern
times have been very considerable in the nineteenth century
:
Safid Pasha and Tawfik Pasha carried out some most important
works of repair. The mosque has six gates, but is usually
Lane, Cairo Fifty Years Ago , p. 142; Lane-Poole, Cairo , p. 44.

442 MOSQUE OF AMR. £
Plan of the Mosque of ‘Amr.

THE MOSQUE AL-AZHAR. 443
entered through the “Gate of the Barbers.” On three sides of

the court are compartments, each of which is reserved for the
students or worshippers of a certain country. The Liwan,
or Sanctuary, contains nine rows of pillars, four of which
were contributed by a noble called ‘Abd Ar-Rahman,
J L
Plan of the Mosque Al-Azhar.
whose tomb is In the compartments, or

in the building.
from every region of
porticoes, already referred to, students
the Muslim world are taught the various subjects which the
professors, over 200 in number, consider necessary for the
444 MOSQUE OF IBN TULUN.
education of Muhammadans. The Kur’an is, of course, to

them the fountain of all and wisdom, and
science, learning,
next come the commentaries on it, and exegetical works the ;
“ profane” subjects taught are those which the Muslims studied

in the Middle Ages, and all modern learning and knowledge
are treated as if they did not exist. The number of students is
variously given from 7,000 to 9,000, and, to the credit of the
Muslims be it said, no student
is obliged to pay a piastre for
his instruction. The

professors frequently teach for nothing,
and needy students from remote countries are often boarded
and lodged gratuitously. It is said that the number of students
is diminishing, and that British influence and institutions in
Egypt are producing a perceptible effect.
The Mosque of Ibn Tulun was founded by Ahmad ibn
Tulun in 876, and the building was finished in 879, and
prayers were said in it that year. It is, as Mr. Lane-Poole
says, the most interesting monument of Muhammadan Egypt,
and forms a landmark in the history of architecture ; it is the
oldest mosque, except that of ‘Amr, in Cairo, and it is the
earliest instance of the use of the pointed arch throughout
a building, by about two centuries than any in
earlier
England. The site was chosen by Ahmad on the hill of
Yeshkfir, on the spot where God was supposed to have
held converse with Moses. It is said that the plan was
made by a Copt, who showed Ahmad how to build the
mosque without columns, and suggested that brick pillars
and arches would last longer than marble the total cost
;
of the building is said to have been 120,000 dinars, or

about ^63,000. The open court measures about 300 feet
from side to side three sides have two rows of pillars, but the
;
east side has four rows (originally five). Arches and piers are
coated with plaster, in which designs are worked by hand.
Round the arches and windows are a knop-and-flower pattern,
and the arcades are roofed with planks of sycamore, which, a
tradition says, came from Noah’s Ark. The general form of
the mosque is similar to that of ‘Amr restored ; the great square
covers 3 acres of ground. The Liwan, or Sanctuary, was
repaired in 1077, and the mihrab, or niche, was built in 1094,
and the Mamluk Sultan Lagin restored it in 1296, and gave a
pulpit to the building. The mosque has a tower, outside of
which is a spiral staircase, but in the true sense of the term it
has neither minaret nor dome. The cupola over the niche
was the work of Lagin. The Kfifi inscriptions in wood are a
MOSQUE OF IBN t6l6n. 445
purely Arab addition, and the geometric ornament of the open

grilles isByzantine.
The Muristan Kalaun was built by the Mamluk Sultan
Kalaun about 1285, and was intended to serve as a hospital;
it stands, in a ruined state, near his mosque and tomb in the
quarter of the metalworkers. It contained two courts, on

each side of which were small rooms wherein diseases of every
kind were treated, and at the sides of another quadrangle were

lecture rooms, baths, a library, dispensary, and every appliance
which the science of the day could suggest. The only qualifica-
tion for admission was to be sick, and medical treatment was
gratuitous, and readers of the Kur’an and musicians were
attached to the hospital. In a school close by 60 orphans
446 MOSQUE OF KALAUN.
were kept and educated at the expense of the institution. The

building which contains the Tomb of Kalaun is well worth a
visit, and its mosaics and other ornamentations are very good.
Here also are exhibited the clothes which Kalaun wore, and
sick Muslims believe that if they touch them they will be cured
of their illnesses. The Muristan was fin ished by Kalatin’s son,
An-Nasir ? whose tomb is near his father’s. Kalaun decided to
Plan of the Muristan and Mosque of Kalaun.
build the Muristan after a serious illness which came upon

him, and we can understand his care for the poor when we
remember that his son An-Nasir had a cataract in one eye and
was lame in one foot. Close by is a building of the Sultan
Barkfik, erected in 1384, in which one of his daughters is
buried.
MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASAN. 447
The Mosque of
Hasan was by the
built
Sultan of this name, who
reigned from 1347 t0
1351, was deposed for
three years, and then
reigned from 1354 to
1361. It was built be-
tween 1356 and 1359?
and the expenses con-
nected with it are said
to have been 1,000
dinars a day. legend A
says that when the work
was done, Hasan had
the architect’s hand cut
off to prevent him from
making a duplicate of
the building. The
mosque is in the form
of a cross, and consists
of a centra] court and
four deep transepts.
The walls are if 3 feet
high, and the mosque is
about 320 feet long and

200 feet wide; the re-
maining minaret is the
highest in Cairo, and is
about 280 feet high.
The stones used in the
building came from the
Pyramids. One of the
most beautiful features
of the building is the
cornice, with six rows
of stalactites, which
surmounts the whole
wall. The largest arch
is 90 feet high and
70 feet wide. The
mosque was to have had
The Lantern in theSanctuary of the Mosque four minarets, but the
of Sultan Hasan.
Hasan.
Sultan
of
Mosque
the
of
Plan
;
MOSQUE OF BARKUK. 449
third fell down immediately afterit was built, and killed 300
children in the school below ;

one of the two which remained
fell into a decayed state, and when rebuilt in 1659 was made too
aim pa gaga fa
ttttttttt 1
short. The tomb of Hasan is a simple marble monument

above is a dome built after 1660, for the original dome
it
collapsed in that year. The terrace roof of the mosque has

2 F
45 ° MOSQUE OF KA‘lT BEY.
been from time to time used for cannon, and “ shots were
“ frequently exchanged between it and the Citadel down to the
“time of Muhammad ‘Ali.” The Sultan Barkuk removed the
steps to the mosque and closed the great door, and once the
building was shut up for about 50 years. Mr. Poole tells us
that in the middle of the fifteenth century a tight-rope was
stretched from the minaret to the Citadel, whereon a gymnast
disported himself, to the tremendous delight of the populace.
One of the most interesting objects in the mosque is the door
leading to the tomb, which is plated with arabesques in bronze,
and inlaid with gold and silver.
Plan of the Mosque of Kafit Bey.
The Mosque of Barkuk was begun during the lifetime of

Sultan Barkuk, and was finished by his sons Farag and Asis in
1410. It is a square building, and its two domes and two
minarets render it a picturesque and striking object ; in fact,
some authorities consider it to be the most beautiful example
of Saracenic architecture. The stone pulpit was presented to
the mosque by Ka‘it Bey, and is a very fine specimen of its
class.
The Mosque of Ka‘it Bey was built about 1475, an d i s
usually considered to be one of the finest architectural works
in Cairo ;
when we remember the numerous building operations
1
MOSQUES OF HAKIM, MU‘aYYAD, ETC. 45
which he carried on in Cairo and in other parts of his

dominions, and the beauty of the work and intricacy of the
ornaments with which he decorated them, this is not to be
wondered at. The arabesques and medallions which ornament
the stones of the main arch are marvellous specimens of that
class of work, and the mosaics in the pavement and walls are
very fine. The carved woodwork of the pulpit is especially
deserving of note in connection with this it may be mentioned
;
that the stone pulpit which he built in Barkuk’s tomb-mosque

illustrates the skill which the workmen of the day possessed,
and the application of geometrical patterns to the ornamenta-
tion of slabs of stone. The minaret is a beautiful and most
characteristic example of Saracenic architecture of the fifteenth
century. The mosque is about 80 feet long and 70 feet wide.
The Mosque of A1 = Hakim was founded in 990 by Al-‘Aziz,
and prayers were said in it a year later ; the decoration, minarets,
etc., were begun in 1003 by his son Hakim, and were finished
in 1013. The Crusaders turned this mosque into a church in
1167, when they occupied Cairo; it was afterwards used for
stables, and it was practically destroyed by the earthquake of
1303, but was restored by Bebars the following year. In 1420
it was again in ruins, and since then the court has been used
as a rope walk ; for a few years some of the arcades at the

east end were used as a museum of Arab art. The square
bases of the minarets do not belong to the original building,
but date from 1302.
The Mosque of Al = Mu‘ayyad was built by Mu‘ayyad, one
of the Circassian Mamluks, and was finished about 1412 ; it
is also known as “ Al-Ahmar,” i.e., “the Red” from the colour
of the walls outside. The fine bronze-plated entrance door

was removed by Al-MTayyad from the Mosque of Hasan in
1410. In the Liwan or sanctuary are the tombs of the founder
and several of the members of his family. The mosaics,
panels, ornaments, and inscriptions are well worth examination.
The Mosque of Abu Bakr Mazhar belongs to the latter
part of the fifteenth century ; it is interesting chiefly because of
the red and black plaster mosaic with which one of its walls is
ornamented.
The Mosque of AUGhuri was built by the Sultan
Al-Ghftri, who began to reign in 1501. His madresa or college
was built in 1503, and his tomb-mosque a year later; they
stand one on one side of the street and one on the other. He
fell at the age of 76 fighting against the Turks at Marg Dabak,
2 f 2
Al-Mu‘ayyad.
of
Mosque
the
of
Plan
—
THE CITADEL. 453
near Aleppo, on August 24th, 1516, for, having been deserted

by the two wings of his army, he and his bodyguard were
trampled under foot by the horsemen of the enemy. He will
be remembered as the builder of a minaret of the Mosque of
Al-Azhar, and the Mosque of the Nilometer on the Island of
Rodah, the great Sebil or Fountain in the Rumela, the water-
mills at Old Cairo, and as the restorer of the aqueduct to the
Citadel.
The Mosque of Zenab,
the daughter of Ali, and the
£
granddaughter of Muhammadthe Prophet, dates from the end

of the eighteenth century, and contains the name of the “ lady
Zenab”; it was finished early in the nineteenth century, and
has since been restored.
6. The Citadel.
The Citadel was by Salah ad-Din (Saladin), and was
built
intended by him to be the strongest part of the fortifications
with which he girdled Cairo it ;
stands on a spur of the
Mukattam hills, and although in these days, since it can be
commanded by cannon placed on those heights, it is practically
useless, it was, when built, practically impregnable. The work
was begun in 1176-7 under the direction of the Emir Karakush,
and was finished in 1207-8. An above the Gate
inscription
of Steps states that “the building of this splendid castle
“ hard by Cairo the Guarded, on the terrace which joins use to
“ beauty, and space to strength, for those who seek the shelter
“ of his power —was ordered by our master the King, Strong- 1
“ to-aid, Saladin, Conquest-laden, Yusuf, son of Ayyub,

“ Restorer of the Empire of the Caliph with the direction of
;
“ his brother and heir the Just King, Seyf ed-din Abu Bekr
“ Mohammad, friend of the Commander
of the Faithful; and
“under the management of the Emir of his Kingdom and
“Support of his Empire Karakush, son of ‘Abdallah, the slave
“of el-Melik en-Nasir in the year 579”* (1183-4). The stone
for the Citadel was taken from the Pyramids, and Ibn Juber,
who visited Cairo in 1183, says that the men who were
employed in the building of it were European prisoners whom
Saladin had captured in his wars, and he adds that the Muslims
who laboured did so without pay. In other words, Saladin
made use of the corvee. In the Citadel are (1) The
Mosque of An = Nasir, which was built by the Sultan Nasir
:
—
in 1317-18, and is also known as the Mosque of Ibn Kalaun ;
* Lane-Poole, Cairo p. 176.

,
454 THE CITADEL.
and (2) the Mosque of Suleman Pasha, or Sultan Salim,

built in 1526. The Hall of Yusuf, which was thought
to be
Saladin’s is, Mr. Poole’s opinion, part of a Mamluk palace.
in
The Mosque of Muhammad ‘Ali, which is also in the
Citadel, was begun by Muhammad ‘Ali, and finished by Sa‘id
Pasha in 1857. The yellow marble columns and slabs came
from the quarries of Beni Suwef. The tomb of Muhammad
‘Ali is seen on the right on entering. The clock in the tower
was presented by Louis Philippe of France. In the narrow
way, through the Bab al-‘Azab, with a high wall on each side,
which was formerly the most direct and most used road to the
Citadel, the massacre of the Mamluks took place on March 1st,
1 81 1. All the Mamluks of any position or power were under
one pretence or another, decoyed into the Citadel, the excuse
being that they were to assist at the investiture of Tusun,
Muhammad ‘Ali’s son, with a pelisse and the command of the
army. Shahin Bey and all the other chiefs of the Mamluks
save one went to the Citadel with their followers, and were
graciously received by Muhammad ‘Ali. Having drunk coffee,
they formed a procession, and with the Pasha’s troops in front
and behind them they marched down this narrow way, but as
soon as they had arrived at the gate it was suddenly closed
before them. The troops who had marched out immediately
before the gate was shut were Albanians, and these at once
marched back by another road to places where they could
command the Mamluks who were shut in between the walls in
the narrow road as soon as they had arrived where they
;
themselves could not be injured, they opened fire on the

Mamluks, the Pasha’s troops who were behind them doing the
same. In a very short time the Mamluks were either shot
down or, if they tried to escape, cut down with the sword ;
470 Mamluks entered the Citadel, and it is said that only one
escaped. This he is supposed to have done by making his
horse leap through an opening in the wall down into the
moat the poor horse is said to have been killed, and the man
;
to have escaped.
—
Joseph’s Well. The well in the Citadel which is com-
monly known by this name is a very ancient one, and it existed
before Saladin built the Citadel. The architect Karakush
found it to be filled with sand, and having cleared it out, and
perhaps deepened and enlarged it, he called it after the first
name of his master, the Well of Yusuf, or Joseph. Popular
Jewish opinion assumed that the Joseph referred to was their
TOMBS OF THE KHALIFAHS AND MAMLUKS. 455
patriarch, the son of Jacob, and the erroneous idea that the
well was the work of the who was sold into Egypt
Israelite
spread abroad. The well is 289 feet deep, and is in two
sections;
at the top of the first was a water-wheel, by which
the water was regularly raised for the use of the garrison until
the year 1865, when other means of supply became available.
7. The Tombs of the Khalifahs and Mamluks.*

These interesting buildings, which stand on the eastern side
of the city to the north of the Citadel, were built by the
Mamliik rulers of Egypt ; they fall naturally into two groups,
northern and southern. The buildings of the northern group,
which are commonly called the Tombs of the Mamluks,
are the older, and contain the tombs of several of the Bahrite
Mamluks who ruled Egypt from T250 to 1380. The Bahrite
Mamluks were descended from the battalion of picked
Mamluks which was stationed on the Island of Rodah by
Melik As-Saleh, who began to reign in 1240, and because of
the position of their barracks, its members were called “Bahri,”
/.<?.,
“ River’ Mamlfiks. The tombs of this group are in a very
5
bad condition, and of some little more than the minarets

remain, and in the precincts of several of them modern graves
have been made. It is impossible to say when they began to
fall into ruin, but it is quite certain that the greatest injury has
been done them during and since the rule of Muhammad
to
‘Ali, for this despot seized the moneys which had been put in
trust for the maintenance of the tomb-mosques, and much
other religious property, and diverted them to his own uses.
When the revenues of such buildings had been confiscated in
this way, only one end was possible, and of this end the tombs
of the Mamluks are a sad example. Among the buildings
here worthy of note are the tomb of the Imam
Shafe‘i and
the tomb = mosque of Muhammad
‘Ali, where several of
his family and descendants are buried. The latter is well
worth a visit, for the tombs of the Pashas are fine specimens
of modern work, which, however, appears coarse by the side

of the products of the Saracen tomb builders of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. Many of the notables of Cairo
during the nineteenth century were buried in this necropolis,
* The word Ma?nltik means “slave,” and is applied to many of the
rulers of Egypt who had been originally slaves thus, Bebars the Great
;
only fetched £20 in the slave market,

l ;
45 6 BAZAARS OF CAIRO.
and it is easy to see that the tombs of the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries have suffered in consequence. The
buildings of the southern group of tombs, which are com-
monly but erroneously called “ Tombs of the Khalifahs,”
form the burial place of the Circassian Mamluks, who ruled Egypt
from 13.82-1517. These Mamluks were called “ Burgite ”
or “ Tower’ * Mamluks, because they belonged to the
7
soldiers whose quarters were in the Citadel, and “ Circassian/’

to distinguishthem from the Bahrite Mamluks, who were Turks,
and because most of them were Circassians. The tombs most
worthy of note are :
—
(1) The tomb of Al-Ghuri (1501-1516) ;
(2) the tomb of Ashraf (3) the tomb of the Emir Yusuf;
;
(4) the tomb of Barkuk and Farag his son (5) the tomb of ;
Suleman, or Salim; (6) the tomb of Barsbey (7) the tomb- ;
mosque of Ka‘it Bey. The last named is undoubtedly the

finest building of the group, and its dome and minaret make
it a striking feature of the necropolis.
8. The Bazaars of Cairo.
Tothe places in Cairo where goods are sold or exchanged

and markets in general the name M bazaar” t has been
to
commonly given by Europeans, but among the Egyptians the
word employed is “ Suk,” and this originally indicated a
portion of a street, or a whole street, which consisted chiefly, or
solely, of houses with shops appropriated to one particular trade.
Thus the market of the coppersmiths and workers in brass
is called “Suk An-Nahhasin,” the market of the jeweller is
“Sftk Al-Gawharigur,” etc. Wholesale dealers usually congregate

in a building called a “ Wakalah ” j the word signifies a ;
place where a merchant can store his goods or wares in safety.

The Wakalah is a rectangular courtyard on each side of which are
built rows of vaulted chambers in which goods can be stored
all these chambers face the courtyard, and above them are
series of small rooms which open on to terraces wherein

merchants and others may lodge. The Wakalah has only one
entrance, and the door, which is always shut at night, is kept
by a porter. Mr. Lane estimated that in his time there were
* From the Arabic “ tower, fortress ” compare Greek nrvpyos.

^y ?
;
t From the Turkish and Persian ,

bazar .
t 4] iy sometimes 2 <
^, wakkdlah.
BAZAARS OF CAIRO. 457
about 200 wakalahs in Cairo, and that three-fourths of these

were within the bounds of the original city. The shops in a
bazaar, or suk, are usually small apartments, a few feet square,
in which the shopkeeper sits, but in the modern portions of
bazaars more space for customers is now provided, and dealers
in Indian stuffs and wares have counters on which to display
their wares, and chairs for their clients. In the old shops the
Muslim expects his customer to sit on the same level with
himself, and to remove his shoes if he sits cross-legged ; known
customers, or those who are expected to become buyers to any
considerable extent, are usually provided with a small cup of
coffee at the expense of the shopkeeper, and a pipe or a cigarette
is also offered. In many shops the visitor is asked if he prefers
his coffee with or without sugar, and in those kept by Persians
he is offered his choice between tea and coffee. If the “deal”
takes a long time coffee is brought in at intervals.
There is no royal road for becoming a skilled purchaser of
“bargains” in Cairo, any more than at Damascus, Baghdad,
Constantinople, or any other Oriental city, and each year the
chances of “ picking up bargains ” becomes rarer and rarer. For
the last 30 years the shops all over Cairo have been ransacked
by European dealers, amateurs, and wealthy buyers of curiosities
of every kind, and most of the best things have passed out of the
country. In respect of modern goods, carpets, woodwork,
and the like, it should be remembered that the merchant is
fully aware of the value of the goods which he wishes to sell,
and native shrewdness and experience tell him quickly whether
a particular piece of goods has “taken the fancy” of the
would-be purchaser or not. When asked to name a price
for a certain object he always mentions a figure which is
enormously in excess of the value of the object, knowing
full well that there is very little chance of getting it, and
that he will have to reduce it ; the price asked may be said
to be ahvays out of all proportion to the market value of
the object, plus a generous allowance for working expenses.
Still, experience shows that every now and then a purchaser
does pay exactly what he is asked, and every merchant hopes

that similar good fortune, in the form of such a customer,
may come to him. Where time is no object and men have
nothing to do but haggle and bargain with retail customers,
the business of buying must always be a slow one. The
haggling and bargaining, however, is not really about the
value of the object, but about the amount of the profit which the
458 THE MUSKI.
merchant is content to make out of it, for the market value

of most things sold in the bazaars is very well known, and
every good merchant knows at the beginning what is the lowest
price for which he will part with an object. The would-be
purchaser should first of all try to find out from friends or
residents what is the ordinary market value of the thing which
he wishes to buy, and then, having made a reasonable allowance
for working expenses, and for the fact that he himself is a
stranger, make his offer, which is quite likely to be accepted
after a few objections have been raised by the merchant.
Many Europeans begin by offering a quarter or a sixth of the
price asked them for a carpet, or piece of mushrabiyah, without
the least regard to the market value of the object, but offers of
this kind only prove to the merchant that his customers know
nothing about the value of what they wish to buy. It is better,
if possible, to deal with a merchant without any go-between
or dragoman, for he will sell cheaper when he is quite certain

that no subsequent demands will be made upon him for
bakshish ; he is usually willing to give bakshish to dragomans
and commission to touts, but in the end the traveller pays
both. The cupidity of the Egyptian is one of his most
unpleasant characteristics, but there is no doubt that the
love of the “ nimble shilling ” will often make a merchant
do business for a profit of from 2 to 5 per cent, rather than
lose a good customer. In the purchase of “ antikas ” great
care should be exercised, for genuine antiquities are scarce,
and forgeries abound. Imitation scarabs are often well made,
for the Egyptian workman has learned how to cut the
commonest cartouches with great success, and also how to
melt the glaze chipped from ancient beads and to lay it on
his modern steatite scarabs by means of a blowpipe. Genuine
antiquities are now rare, and their prices have risen so greatly,
that the traveller has to pay nowadays as many pounds for a
genuine scarab of good colour as francs were paid in 1883, or
piastres in 1870.
From the Isma‘iliyah Quarter of Cairo, in which are
most of the handsome, modern hotels, the easiest means of
access to the bazaars is via the Muski, a street which leads us
directly into one of the oldest parts of the town. A tradition
says that the Muski dates from the time of Saladin, who, with
characteristic broad-mindedness, allowed foreign merchants,
i.e.,Franks or Europeans, to enter the city, and gave them this
street to settle in and carry on their trades. Its character has
;
QUARTERS OF CAIRO. 459
changed greatly in recent years, and the native shops, with

their picturesqueness and odour and sleepiness, have dis-
appeared, and large shops, built on the French pattern, with
plate-glass windows, gilded fascias, etc., have taken their places.
At one time the Muski was practically roofed in, and in the
hottest day buyers and sellers, rich and poor, sought and
found there coolness and shade ; all the roofing has now been
removed, and the danger from fire is, in consequence, much
less than formerly. About half a mile along the Muski the
road is intersected by a tramway, which has been built upon
the site of the old Khalig Canal, now filled in. This canal
used to enter the Nile opposite the Island of Rodah, and
tradition says that it was dug soon after 642 by ‘Amr, who
intended it to form a means of communication between the
Nile and the Red Sea. At the end of the streets which form
the continuation of the Muski is Windmill Hill, from which a
magnificent view of the whole city is obtained. A
great many
interesting afternoons may be spent in visiting the Muski,
especially the eastern or less Europeanized end of it, and the
man who is interested in watching Oriental crowds, with their
variety of life and colour, and the ever-changing scenes which
they present, cannot fail to gather from the different phases of
bazaar life both instruction and amusement. The people are
amiable and good-natured, and enjoy a joke, and the anxiety 01
the merchants to attract Europeans to their shops ensures the
visitor a courteous welcome. Order is kept by the police with
imperturbable good-nature, and the excellence of their manage-
ment is proved by the fewness of the accidents that occur in
this comparatively narrow street, which seems to be packed all
day with donkeys, strings of camels, loaded carts, water-
carriers, sherbet and sweetmeat sellers, carriages and pairs,
porters, beggar children, veiled women, and a multitude of
men, women, and children dressed in garments of every con-
ceivable shape and colour.
9. The Modern Quarters of Cairo.
The city of Cairo is divided for administrative purposes into

13 Quarters (Kism) their names and populations are : Abdin
(53,356), Bab al-Sharia‘ (56,183), Biilak (89,613), Darb al-
Ahmar (67,132), Ezbakiyah (46,55 1), Gamaliyah (59,054), Hel-
wan (7,646), Khalifah (53,886), Muski (22,031), Fustat(3 1,457),
Sayyidah Zenab (64,999), Shfibrah (48,870), Waili (53,398).
460 QUARTERS OF CAIRO.
To the north of Cairo, in the neighbourhood of the village

of Shubrah, about three miles from Cairo, Muhammad ‘Ali
built a palace, and caused M. Bardlet, an eminent Parisian
landscape gardener, to lay out gardens on the bank of the
Nile. The drive is a pleasant one, and the shade of the
luxuriantly-growing trees on each side of the road is agreeable.
To the north-east of Cairo is the quarter of ‘Abbasiyah,
which is called after the Khedive ‘Abbas I, and part of which
was built at his suggestion. In the Barracks a number of
British soldiers are quartered. To the west of Cairo is
Bulak, the old port of Cairo, which still does a considerable
business in connection with river-borne produce. Here is
situated the Viceregal Printing Press, from which large numbers
of editions of important Arabic works have issued. It is easily
reached by electric tram, and on the nights of popular festivals
the streets present an interesting and animated appearance.
Opposite is the Island of Bulak ( Gazirdt Bdlak), commonly
known as Qazirah, where Ismail Pasha built a magnificent
palace, since turned into an hotel, and laid out a racecourse.
Here many gymkhanas are held, and both Europeans and
natives take afternoon drives. The island is connected with
the east bank of the Nile by means of a fine iron bridge about
1,250 feet long ; at each end are two massive pillars, sur-
mounted by bronze lions. This bridge is opened at the east
end for a certain time each day in order to permit sailing boats
to pass up and down the river ;
to the left, at the west end of
it, are the offices for the collection of the octroi, or city tax,
now abolished. From 6.30 to 9 a.m. the bridge is crowded
with market gardeners and others bringing in their wares to the
markets in the city by innumerable camels, donkeys, etc., and
the sight is an interesting one. In former years, when there
was no other bridge over the Nile, and insufficient connection
existed between the Cairo terminus of the lines from Alexandria,
Port Said, and Suez with the line for Upper Egypt, travellers
booked for the south crossed this bridge, and made their way
to Bulak Ad-Dakrfir Station. Since the building of the
Embabah Bridge, a little to the north of Gazirah, trains
for the south leave from the new railway station in Cairo. To
the east of the Bulak Quarter is the Ismalliyah Quarter,
which was founded and named after the Khedive Ismail ; in
this quarter are the Ezbakiyah Gardens, which are named
afterKalt Bey’s Emir Ezbaki and were laid out by Barillet,
and the new Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
COPTIC CHURCHES. 461
10. The Coptic Churches of Old Cairo.*

The church of Mar Mina
between Fustat and Cairo ;
lies
it was built in honour of St. Menas, an early martyr, who is
said to have been born at Mareotis, and martyred during the

persecution of Galerius Maximinus at Alexandria. The name
Mina, or Mena, probably represents the Coptic form of Mena,
,
the name of the first dynastic king of Egypt. The
church was probably founded during the fourth century, and
it seems to have been restored in the eighth century ; the first
church dedicated to Mar Mina was near Alexandria. The

church measures 60 feet by 50 feet; it contains some
interesting pictures, and a very ancient bronze candelabrum
in the shape of two winged dragons, with 17 sockets for lighted
tapers. On the roof of the church is a small bell in a cupola.
About half a mile beyond the Der, or “ Monastery,” containing
the church of St. Menas lies the Der of Abu’s Sefen, in which
are situated the churches al-‘Adhra (the Virgin), Anba Shenuti,
and Abu’s Sefen. The last-named church was built in the
tenth and is dedicated to St. Mercurius, who is
century,
called “Father of two swords,” or Abfi’s Sefen. The church
measures 90 feet by 50 feet, and is built chiefly of brick ;
there are no pillars in it. It contains a fine ebony partition
dating from a.d. 927, some interesting pictures, an altar casket
dating from a.d. 1280, and a marble pulpit. In this church
are chapels dedicated to Saints Gabriel, John the Baptist,
James, Mar Buktor, Antony, Abba Nub, Michael, and George.
Within the Der of Abu’s Sefen is the “Convent of the
Maidens ” the account of Mr. Butler’s discovery of this place
;
is told by him in his Coptic Churches of Egypt, vol. i, p. 128.
The church of the Virgin was founded, probably, in the eighth

century. The church of Abu Sargah, or Abti Sergius, stands
well towards the middle of the Roman fortress of Babylon in;
Egypt. Though nothing is known of the saint after whom,

it was named, it is certain that in a.d. 859 Shenuti was
elected patriarch of Abti Sargah ;
the church was most
probably built much and some go so far as to state
earlier,
that the crypt (20 feet by 15 feet) was occupied by the
Virgin and her Son when they fled to Egypt to avoid the
* The authorities for the facts relating to Coptic churches are Butler’s
Coptic Churches of Egypt, 2 vols., 1884 ; and Curzon, Visits to Monasteries
in the Levant .
;
462 COPTIC CHURCHES.
wrath of Herod. “The general shape of the church is, or

“ was, a nearly regular oblong, and its general structure is
“ basilican. It consists of narthex, nave, north and south
“ aisle, choir, and three altars eastward each in its own chapel
“ of these the central and southern chapels are apsidal, the
“ northern is square ended Over the aisles and
“ narthex runs a continuous gallery or triforium, which
“ originally served as the place for women at the service.
“ On the north side it stops short at the choir, forming a
“ kind of transept, which, however, does not project beyond
“ the north aisle On the south side of the church
“ the triforium is prolonged over the choir and over the south
“ side-chapel. The gallery is flat-roofed, while the nave is
“ covered with a pointed roof with framed principals like that
“ at Abu’s Sefen Outside, the roof at Abu Sargah
“ is plastered over with cement showing the king-posts project-
“ ing above the ridge-piece. Over the central part of the choir
“ and over the haikal the roof changes to a wagon-vaulting
;
“ it is flat over the north transept, and a lofty dome over-
“ shadows the north aisle chapel The twelve
“ monolithic columns round the nave are all, with one
“ exception, of white marble streaked with dusky lines
“ The exceptional column is of red Assuan granite, 22 inches in
“ diameter The wooden pulpit is ot
“ rosewood inlaid with designs in ebony set with ivory
“ edgings The haikal-screen projects forward into
“ the choir as at A1 ‘Adra and is of very ancient and
“ beautiful workmanship; pentagons and other shapes of solid
“ ivory, carved in relief with arabesques, being inlaid and set
“ round with rich mouldings The upper part of the
“ screen contains square panels of ebony set with large crosses
“ of solid ivory, most exquisitely chiselled with scrollwork,
“ and panels of ebony carved through in work of the most
“ delicate and skilful finish.” (Butler, Coptic Churches ,
vol. i, pp. 183-190, ff.) The early carvings representing

St. Demetrius, Mar George, Abu’s Sefen, the Nativity, and the
Last Supper are worthy of careful examination.
The Jewish synagogue near Abu Sargah was originally a
Coptic church dedicated to St. Michael, and was sold to the
Jews by the patriarch Michael towards the end of the ninth
century it measured 65 feet by 35 feet, and was said to con-
;
tain a copy of the Law written by Ezra. It fell down in 1888.

A little to the south-east of Abti Sargah is the church dedi-
;
COPTIC CHURCHES. 463
cated to the Virgin, more commonly called Al = Mu‘allakah,

or the “ hanging/’ from the fact that it is suspended between
two bastions, and must be entered by a staircase. The church
is triapsal, and is of the basilican order. It originally con-
tained some very beautiful screens, which have been removed
from their original positions and made into a sort of wall, and,
unfortunately, modern stained glass has been made to replace
the old. The cedar doors, sculptured in panels, are now in
the British Museum. The cedar and ivory screens are thought
to belong to the eleventh century. The church is remarkable
in having no choir, and Mr. Butler says it is “a double-aisled
“ church, and as such is remarkable in having no transepts/’
The pulpit is one of the most valuable things left in the
church, and probably dates from the twelfth century ; in the
wooden coffer near it are the bones of four saints. Authorities
differ as to the date to be assigned to the founding of this
church, but all the available evidence now known would seem
to point to the sixth century as the most probable period
at any rate, it must have been before the betrayal of the
fortress of Babylon to ‘Amr by the Monophysite Copts in the
seventh century. A little to the north-east of Abu Sargah is the
church of St. Barbara, who was the daughter of a man of
position in the East, and was martyred during the persecution of
Maximinus ; it was built probably during the eighth century.
In the church is a picture of the saint, and a chapel in honour
of St. George. At the west end of the tnforium are some mural
paintings of great interest. Within the walls of the fortress of
Babylon, lying due north of Abti Sargah, are the two churches
of Mar Girgis and the Virgin. To the south of the fortress
of Babylon, beyond the Muhammadan village on the rising
ground, lie the Der of Bablun and the Der of Tadrus. In
the Der el-Bablun is a church to the Virgin, which is very
difficult to see. It contains some fine mural paintings, and an
unusual candlestick and lectern ; in it also are chapels dedicated
to Saints Michael and George. This little building is about
53 feet square. Der at-Tadrus contains two churches dedicated
to Saints Cyrus and John of Damanhur in the Delta ; there
are some fine specimens of vestments to be seen there, A
short distance from the Muski is a Der containing the
churches of the Virgin, St. George, and the chapel of Abft’s
Sefen. The church of the Virgin occupies the lower half of
the building, and is the oldest in Cairo. The chapel of Abu’s
Sefen is reached through a door in the north-west corner of the
464 NILOMETER AT RODAH.
building, and contains a wooden pulpit inlaid with ivory. The

church of St. George occupies the upper part of the building,
and is over the church of the Virgin. In the Greek (Byzantine)
quarter of Cairo is the Der at-Tadrus, which contains the
churches of St. George and the Virgin. The Coptic churches
of Cairo contain a great deal that is interesting, and are well
worth many visits. Though the fabrics of many of them are
not older than the sixth, seventh, or eighth century of our era,
it may well be assumed that the sites were occupied by Coptic
churches long before this period.
11. The Island of Rodah and the Nilometer.

Opposite to the southern portion of the Island of Rodah was
the mouth of the Khalig Canal, which is said to have been
cleared out by ‘Amr after he founded Fustat, and used for the
conveyance of corn to the Red Sea. Quite close is Al-Kanatir,
the station where water was drawn from the Nile, and sent along
the aqueduct which supplied the citadel previous to 1866. A
company of soldiers was stationed in the building to prevent
the cutting off of the water during a revolt. On the south end
of the island, which is now reached by a bridge, is the famous
Nilometer. It seems that the first Nilometer on the island
was built by Osama bin Zed in 716, and that this superseded
the old Nilometer at Memphis, and was still in use in 944.
Under the rule of Yazid the second Nilometer was founded,
and the charge of measuring the rise of the Nile was taken out
of the hands of the Copts, who had attended to this matter
until that time. This was in 861. In 873 Tftlun repaired this
Nilometer, and built a fort on the island ; he is said to have
spent 1,000 dinars on the Nilometer. “The interior of the
“ building is about 18 feet square, and contains on each of its
“ sides a recess, about 6 feet wide and
3 deep, surmounted by
“ a pointed arch. Over each of these arches is an inscription
“ of one short line, in old Kufi characters ; and a similar inscrip-
“ tion, a little above these, surrounds the apartment or well.
“ They are passages from the Kur’an, and contain no date. It
“ however, almost certain that they are not of a later period
is,
“ than that of the completion of the building by Al-Mutawekkil,
u and, though it
has been repaired since that time, it has not
“ been since rebuilt.” (Lane’s Modern Egyptians vol. ii, p. 341.)
,
Tulun’s repairs were carried out 12 years after the completion

of the building, and in the inscriptions referred to above the
characters are identical with those used in his mosque.
NILOMETER AT RODAH. 465
. Although it cannot be finally proved, it is pretty certain that
the pointed arches in the Nilometer building are 16 years older

than those of the mosque ; according to Mr. Poole, the
architect was a native of Ferghana, on the Iaxartes. In the
early years of the sixteenth century Al-Ghuri built a mosque by
the Nilometer.
The Nilometer, or gauge, is a pillar, with a scale divided into
cubits (the cubit = 21^ inches) and kirats (1 kirat = -^th
part of a cubit). Sir W. Willcocks says that when the gauge
was constructed a reading of 16 cubits meant the lowest level
at which flood irrigation could be ensured everywhere. The
level to-day is 20^ cubits on the gauge. The Rodah gauge,
from its long series of observations, would be of inestimable
value if its records were trustworthy, but, unfortunately, this
has not always been the case. For some generations past, at least
for two centuries, the shekh of the Nilometer has been in the
habit of recording the height of the Nile by marks on the wall,
and by the steps in the well in which the Nilometer column
is erected, instead of by the scale of cubits which is cut on
the column (Lyons, Physiography p. 318).

^
In former years,
when the Khalig Canal was in use, a dam was built across it
near the bridge soon after the Nile began to rise, and when
the shekh of the Nilometer announced that the water had risen
16 cubits, this dam was cut amid great rejoicings. As it was
the object of the Government, for the purposes of taxation, to
make the people always believe that the Nile was a good one,
the proclamation of the shekh was often made before the river
had actually risen 16 cubits. According to Arab tradition,
the Egyptians had a custom, when the Nile began to rise, of
casting a young virgin, gaily dressed, into the river as a
sacrifice to the Nile-god to ensure a plentiful inundation.
This custom is said to have been abolished by ‘Amr, and in
the year in which he did this it is said that the Nile did not
rise at all for three months ; the people attributed this to the
abolition of the custom, and feared a famine. At length Amr
£
wrote to his master, the Khalifah ‘Omar, and told him of what
he had done, and what the people feared. ‘Omar replied
approving of his generaks act, and told him to throw into the
Nile a paper on which was some writing, which he enclosed
with his answer. The writing on the paper was “ From
:
“ ‘Abd Allah ‘Omar, Prince of the Faithful, to the Nile in

“ Egypt. If thou flow of thine own accord, flow not ; but if
“ it be God, the One, the Mighty, Who causeth thee to flow,
4 66 MATARIYAH AND HELIOPOLIS.
“ we implore God, the One, the Mighty, to make thee flow.”

‘Amr threw the writing into the Nile, and on the following
night, we are told, the river rose 16 cubits (Lane, op. cit. ii,
! y
p. 230.)
12 . Heliopolis.
(Hotel, see pp. 22, 23.)
In recent years a large number of well-to-do Cairenes have

migrated from the capital to Heliopolis, and as a result a fine
and important residential suburb has sprung up there. Good
substantial houses are being built there on the very edge of the
desert, and broad roads are being made in all directions. The
desert air is most pure and invigorating. The new suburb is
quickly reached by rail or electric tram.
The ruins of Heliopolis may be reached by tram or rail, and
lie about five miles to the north-east of Cairo. If the route
by road be chosen a stop should be made at the village of
Matariyah, where are the Tree and the Well which tradition
connects with the Virgin Mary ; in fact, the former is commonly
called the “ Virgin’s Well,” and the latter the “ Virgin’s Tree.”
The fall of this venerable tree, due to old 2ge, took place on
July 14th, 1906. It is said that the Virgin sat under this tree
and rested with the Child during her flight to Egypt, but there is
reason for believing that the sycamore which now stands at
Matariyah was not planted until some time towards the end of
the seventeenth century, and it therefore seems that it is only
one of a series to which the name has been given. Ismafil
Pasha is said to have given it to the Empress Eugenie on the
occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. From the
Well the Virgin is said to have drawn the water with which she
washed the Child’s garments, and when she threw it away a
luxuriant crop of balsam-bearing plants sprang up where the water
had fallen. These plants were the parents of the “ balsam trees ”
which flourished at Heliopolis, and it was believed that they
would grow nowhere out of Egypt. The oil from them was
greatly prized, and no Christian was thought to have been
properly baptized unless one drop of it had been poured into the
font. It will be remembered that the Apocryphal Gospels state
that the idols of Heliopolis fell down when Mary and the Child
arrived ; a later tradition asserts that the Virgin was so
frightened that she did not enter the city at all, but pressed
on to Matariyah, where fatigue compelled her to rest.
About a mile beyond the village is the site of the ancient city
of Heliopolis, the ruins of which are said to cover an area three
OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS. 467
miles square. The chief deity of Heliopolis was a form of the

Sun-god, who appears to have been worshipped here as early
as the IVth dynasty. A
powerful priesthood ministered in the
temple, and the form of religion and worship which they
introduced into Egypt modified all existing institutions and
formed the foundation of the later theology of the ruling
all
classes of the country. The

priesthood of the Theban god,
Amen, based their cult largely upon that of Heliopolis.
Usertsen I, 2433 B c «> rebuilt the “ House of the Sun,”
*
and dedicated it to Horus-Ra, i.e. the rising Sun, and r
Temu, /.<?., the setting Sun, who was incarnate in the

Mnevis Bull. Before this temple Usertsen I set up two
granite obelisks, the tops of which were covered with copper
cases; ‘Abd al-Latif saw both standing in a.d. 1200, but a
mob threw one down wilfully in the thirteenth century. The
Obelisk still standing has a considerable portion of its base
buried in the mud which has gathered round it in the course
of centuries ; the portion visible is about 66 feet high. The
inscription is the same on all four sides, and records the names
and titles of Usertsen I. The Egyptians called Heliopolis
Annu-meht, i.e.. Northern Annu, and the Hebrews
©
called it On.” The Jewish quarter was a large one, and it
“
will be remembered that Joseph the Patriarch married the
the daughter of Potipherah (in Egyptian something like
s? O j© »
Q Pa-ta-pa-Ra ,
i.e., “ The gift of the Sun-
k D
god ”compare the Greek name Heliodoros), a priest of On.
;
After the fall of the Xllth dynasty the power of Heliopolis
waned, and of its history during the Hyksos Period we know

nothing. Between 1200 and 1100 b.c. it prospered, and about
720 b.c. the temple must have been in a flourishing state, for
Piankhi, the Nubian, visited the sanctuary and made offerings to
the Sun-god. He opened the shrine and saw the two boats of
the Sun and the figure of the god himself in the Benben chamber,
and, to the credit of the fierce warrior be it said, he did neither
sanctuary nor priests any harm. In the Ptolemaic Period the
sages of Heliopolis removed to Alexandria, and the city decayed
rapidly ; when Strabo visited it, 24 b.c., it was practically in
ruins, although many of the larger statues, the walls, and some
of the stronger buildings, were in a more or less complete state.
Traditions cluster thickly about Heliopolis, and not the least
2 G 2
1
468 OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS,
interesting is thatwhich makes the Phoenix bring its ashes here

at intervals, of 500 years— in fact, each time it renewed its life.
following transcript and rendering give the contents of
The
the on the obelisk, which appears to have been
inscription
i
dedicated on the first day of a Set Festival, i.e., at the beginning
of a thirty-year period. The inscription is of interest, and
illustrates the uSe of the various names of the king. As Horus,
t.e. as the successor of the oldest god of Egypt, he was called
f
“ Ankh-mestu as king of Upper and Lower Egypt united

;
his name was “

Kheper-ka-Ra” as lord of the oldest sanctuaries ;
of the South and North he used his Horus name, “ Ankh-

mestu p and this also was his name as the Golden Horus ; as
•”
the son of Ra his name was “ Usertsen.”
The Obelisk of Usertsen I.
The Horus,
Heru
i? __
M the one born of
ankh
life.
Ûsertsen
mestu
lllllllll
of the spirits of
r. King of the South baiu

[fa
and North,
suten bat Anna (Heliopolis)
i: Ann
'IT beloved,
s ^
Kheper-ka-Ra M nieri
u Ah. ; L
‘
living
Lord of the shrine f ankh

Nekhebet, for ever.
Lord of the shrine
Uatchet, Si tchetta
Nebti
The Golden Horus,
'
the one born of life,

ankh mestu
^
f ankh
the one born of life,
mestu Heru-nub
G> the son of the Sun, the beautiful god,

. : sa Ra 5 - . neter-nefer
TRIP TO THE BARRAGE. 469
O
(
Kheper-ka-Ra ]•
m
u he made [this obelisk],
dri-f
On the first day of the
o hru lep
the giver of life
Set Festival true

Set madt
At ta dnkh
for ever.
tchetta
13. Trip to the Barrage

The visitor toCairo should not fail to pay a visit to the
Barrage, which is situated about 15 miles to the north of Cairo,
for a very enjoyable afternoon may be spent there. The
journey from the Central Railway Station in Cairo to the
Barrage Station occupies from 30 to 40 minutes, and there are
several trains running each way in the day. On arriving at the
Barrage Station the visitor will find trolleys awaiting him, and
taking his seaton one of these, he is propelled by swift runners,
and in a very few minutes finds himself at the Barrage itself.
Here he will find much to interest him, and the examination of
the towers, lock, gates, sluices, etc., will occupy the greater part
of an hour. The Barrage Gardens are beautifully laid out, and
contain a number of rare trees, plants, etc. ; they are under the
management of Mr. W. Draper, F.L.S. A portion of them was
wrecked by the collapse of the great regulator in 1909,
but Mr. Draper’s energy has reduced the general effects of the
destruction to a minimum, and in a year or two the Gardens
will be as beautiful as ever. The visitor should pay a visit to
the Barrage Museum, which contains many large-scale models
of dams, barrages, etc. Here, with the help of Mr. Draper’s
explanations, he will be able to understand some of the principles
which underlie the construction of these wonderful works, and
will certainly realize the constant care which is necessary for
utilizing to the fullest degree the life-giving water of the Nile.
One of the models which illustrate the dredging of the Nile can
be set in motion by electricity, and it is to be wished that
power for working it were always available,' The inspection of
the models and the Gardens completed, the visitor reseats him-
self on the trolley, and so returns to the Barrage Station.
470 THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZAH.
14. The Pyramids of Gizah.

The Arabs call the pyramids of Gizah Al-Ahram,* which
seems to mean something like “old ruined buildings.” The
pyramids of the Sudan are called by the natives Tarabil,f
j
the exact meaning of which is unknown. The ancient Egyptian

word for “ pyramid ” appears to have been Per-em-us
CTLj, and it probably meant “a building

p
with a sloping side.”
On the western bank of the Nile, from Abu Roash on the
north to Medfim on the south, is a slightly elevated tract of
land, about 25 miles long, on the edge of the Libyan desert,
on which stand the pyramids of Abu Roash, Gizah, Zawyet
al- ‘Aryan, Abusir, Sakkarah, Lisht, and Dahshhr. Other places
in Egypt where pyramids are found are El-lahun in the
Fayyfim, Hawarah, and Kullah near Esna. The pyramids
built by the Nubians or Ethiopians at Kurrh, Zuma, Tankasi,
Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Bagrawir (Meroe), are of various
dates and are mere copies, in respect of form only, of the
pyramids in Egypt. The pyramids were tombs and nothing
else. There is no evidence whatever to show that they were
built for purposes of astronomical observations, and the theory
that the Great Pyramid was built to serve as a standard of
measurement, though ingenious, is impossible. The significant
fact, so ably pointed out by Mariette, that pyramids are only
found in cemeteries, is an answer to all such theories. The
ancient writers who have described and treated of the pyramids
are given by Pliny (.Natural History xxxvi, 12, 17).
,
If we
may believe some of the writers on them during the Middle
Ages, their outsides must have been covered with inscriptions,
which were, probably, of a religious nature. In modern times
they have been examined by Shaw (1721), Pococke (1743),
Niebuhr (1761), Davison (1763), Bruce (1768), Denon and
Jomard (1799), Hamilton (1801), Caviglia (1817), Belzoni
(1817), Wilkinson (1831), Howard Vyse and Perring (1837-38),
Lepsius (1842-45), and Petrie (1881).
It appears that before the actual building of a pyramid was
begun a suitable rocky site was chosen and cleared, a mass of
rock if possible being left in the middle of the area to form the
core of the building. The chambers and the galleries leading
to them were next planned and excavated. Around the core
THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZAH. 47 1
a truncated pyramid building was made, the angles of which

were filled up with blocks of stone. Layer after layer of stone
was then built around the work, which grew larger and larger
until it was finished. Dr. Lepsius thought that when a king
ascended the throne, he built for himself a small but complete
tomb-pyramid, and that a fresh coating of stone was built
around it every year that he reigned ; and that when he died
the sides of the pyramids were like long flights of steps, which
his successor filled up with right-angled triangular blocks of
stone. The door of the pyramid was walled up after the body
of its builder had been laid in it, and thus remained a finished
tomb. Another explanation of the method employed in the
building of pyramids was put forward by Professor Petrie, but
recent researches have proved that Lepsius’s view is the
correct one. During the investigations made by Lepsius in and
about the pyramid area, he found the remains of about 75 pyra-
mids, and noticed that they were always built in groups.
The pyramids of Gizah were opened by the Persians during
the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ ; it is probable that
they were also entered by the Romans. The Khalifah Mamun
(a.d. 813-833) entered the Great Pyramid, and found that
others had been there before him. The treasure which is said
to have been discovered there by him is probably fictitious.
Once opened, it must have been evident to every one what
splendid quarries the pyramids formed, and for some hundreds
of years after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs they were
laid under contribution for stone to build mosques, etc., in
Cairo. Late in the twelfth century Malik al-Kamil made a
mad attempt to destroy the third pyramid at Gizah, built by
Mycerinus ; but after months of toil he only succeeded in
stripping off the covering from one of the sides. Muhammad
‘Ali ordered the Barrage to be built with stones from the Great
Pyramid, and was only persuaded to give up the plan because
it was cheaper to get stone from the quarries.*
The Great Pyramid, the largest of the three pyramids at
^^ ^ J, or Cheops,
Gizah, was built by Khufu, the
second king of the IVth dynasty, 37 33 b.c., who called it
His name was found written in red ink
* The outer casings and inscriptions of the Pyramids have been discussed
by Mr. A. E. Iludd, in the Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club
(Exeter, 1906).
472 THE GREAT PYRAMID.
upon the blocks of stone inside it. All four sides measure in
greatest length about 775 feet each, but the length of each was
originally about 20 feet more; its height now is 451 feet, but
it is said to have been originally about 481 feet. The stone
used in the construction of this pyramid was brought from
Tura and Mukattam, and the contents amount to 85,000,000
cubic feet. The flat space at the top of the pyramid is about
30 feet square, and the view from it is very fine.
The entrance (a) to this pyramid is, as with all pyramids, on
the north side, and is about 45 feet above the ground. The
passage a b c is 320 feet long, 3^ feet high, and 4 feet wide ;
at b is a granite door, round which the path at d has been
made. The passage at d e is 125 feet long, and the large hall,
e f, is 155 feet long and 28 feet high ; the passage e g leads to
the pointed-roofed Queen’s Chamber, h, which measures
about 17 feet by 19 feet by 20 feet. The roofing in of this
chamber is a beautiful piece of mason’s work. From the large
hall, e f, there leads a passage 22 feet long, the ante-chamber
in which was originally closed by four granite doors, remains of
which are still visible, into the King’s Chamber, j, which is;
lined with granite, and measures about 35 feet by 17 feet by
19 feet. The five hollow chambers, k, l, m, n, o, were built
above the King’s Chamber to lighten the pressure of the
superincumbent mass. In chamber o the name Khufu was
found written. The air shafts, p and Q, measure 234 feet by
8 inches by 6 inches, and 174 feet by 8 inches by 6 inches
respectively. A shaftfrom e to r leads down to the subter-
ranean chamber s, which measures 40 feet by 27 feet by
io| feet. The floor of the King’s Chamber, j, is about 140 feet
from the level of the base of the pyramid, and the chamber is
a little to the south-east of the line drawn from t to u. Inside
the chamber lies the empty, coverless, broken, red granite
sarcophagus of Cheops, measuring 7^ feet by 3^ feet by
33 feet.
The account of the building of this pyramid is told by
Herodotus (Book ii, 124-126) as follows
“ Now, they told me that to the reign of Rhampsinitus there was
“a perfect distribution of justice, and that all Egypt was in a high
“state of prosperity; but that after him Cheops, coming to reign
“ over them, plunged into every kind of wickedness. For that,
“ having shut up all the temples, he first of all forbade them to offer
“ sacrifice, and afterwards he ordered all the Egyptians to work for
“ himself some, accordingly, were appointed to draw stones from
;
“ the quarries in the Arabian mountain down to the Nile, others he

ffrE GREAT PYRAMID. 473
“ ordered to receive the stones when transported in vessels across
“the river, and drag them to the mountain called the Libyan.
to
“And they worked to the number of 100,000 men at a time, each
“party during three months. The time during which the people
“ were thus harassed by toil lasted 10 years on the road which they
‘
constructed, along which they drew the stones, a work, in my
‘
opinion, not much less than the pyramid for its length is 5 stades
;
‘
(3*051 feet), and its width 10 orgyae (60 feet), and its height, where
‘it is the highest, 8 orgyae (48 feet) and it is of polished stcne,
;
4?4 SECOND PYRAMID AT GIZAH.
“with figures carved on it; on this road these io years were

“expended, and in forming the subterraneous apartments on the
“ hill, on which the pyramids stand, which he had made as a burial
“ vault for himself, in an island, formed by draining a canal from the
“Nile. Twenty years were spent in erecting the pyramid itself:
“of this, which is square, each face is 8 plethra (820 feet), and the
“height is the same it is composed of polished stones, and jointed
;
“with the greatest exactness; none of the stones are less than
“30 feet. This pyramid was built thus in the form of steps, which
;
“ some call crossae, others bomides. When they had first built it in
“this manner, they raised the remaining stones by machines made
“of short pieces of wood: having lifted them from the ground to
“the first range of steps, when the stone arrived there, it was put
“ on another machine that stood ready on the first range, and from
“this it was drawn to the second range on another machine, for the
“machines were equal in number to the ranges of steps, or they
“removed the machine, which was only one, and portable, to each
“range in succession, whenever they wished to raise the stone
“higher, for I should relate it in both ways, as it is related. The
“highest parts of it, therefore, were first finished, and afterwards
“they completed the parts next following, but last of all they
“ finished the parts on the ground and that were lowest.
“ On the pyramid is shown an inscription, in Egyptian characters,
‘
‘
how much was expended in radishes, onions, and garlic for the
“ workmen
which the interpreter, as I well remember, reading the
;
“inscription, told me amounted to 1,600 talents of silver. And if

“this be really the case, how much more was probably expended
“in iron tools, in bread, and in clothes for the labourers, since they
“occupied in building the works the time which I mentioned, and
“no short time besides, as I think, in cutting and drawing the
“stones, and in forming the subterraneous excavation. [It is
“related] that Cheops reached such a degree of infamy, that being
“ in want of money, he prostituted his own daughter in a brothel,
“and ordered her to extort, they did not say how much; but she
“ exacted a certain sum of money, privately, as much as her father
“ordered her; and contrived to leave a monument of herself, and
“asked everyone that came in to her to give her a stone towards
“the edifice she designed: of these stones they said the pyramid
“was built that stands in the middle of the three, before the great
“pyramid, each side of which is a plethron and a half in length."
(Cary’s translation.)
The second pyramid at Gizah was built by Kha=f~Ra,
( s^G] ,or Chephren, the third king of the I Vth dynasty,
3666 b.c., who called it A >

ur
- His name has not 13 een
found inscribed upon any part of it, but the fragment of a

marble sphere inscribed with the name of Kha-f-Ra, which was
found near the temple, close by this pyramid, confirms the
statements of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, that Chephren
built it. A statue of this king, now in the Cairo Museum, was
—
SECOND PYRAMID AT GIZAH. 475
found in the granite temple close by. This pyramid appears

to be larger than the Great Pyramid, because it stands upon
a higher level of stone foundation ; it was cased with stone
originally and polished, but the greater part of the outer casing
has disappeared. An ascent of this pyramid can only be made
with difficulty. It was first explored in 1816 by Belzoni (born
1778, died 1823), the discoverer of the tomb of Seti I and of

the temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel. In the north side
of the pyramid are two openings, one at the base and one
about 50 feet above it. The upper opening led into a corridor
105 feet long, which descends into a chamber 46^ feet by
16^ feet by 22^ feet, which held the granite sarcophagus in
which Chephren was buried. The lower opening leads into
a corridor about 100 feet long, which, first descending and then
ascending, ends in the chamber mentioned above, which is
usually called BelzonPs Chamber. The actual height is
about 450 feet, and the length of each side at the base about
700 feet. The rock upon which the pyramid stands has been
scarped on the north and west sides to make the foundation
level.
The history of the building of the pyramid is thus stated
by Herodotus (Book ii, 127) :
“The Egyptians say that this Cheops reigned 50 years; and

“when he died his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom;
“and he followed the same practices as the other, both in other
‘
respects and in building a pyramid
‘
which does not come up to
;
“ the dimensions of his brother’s, for I myself measured them nor;
has it subterraneous chambers nor does a channel from the Nile

;
“flow to it, as to the other; but this flows through an artificial

“aqueduct round an island within, in which they say the body of
“Cheops is laid. Having laid the first course of variegated
“ Ethiopian stones, less in height than the other by 40 feet, he built
“it near the large pyramid. They both stand on the same hill,
“which is about 100 feet high. Chephren, they said, reigned
“56 years. Thus 106 years are reckoned, during which the
“ Egyptians suffered all kinds of calamities, and for this length of
“ time the temples were closed and never opened. From the hatred
“ they bear them, the Egyptians are not very willing to mention
“ their names but call the pyramids after Philition, a shepherd, who
;
“ at that time kept his cattle in those parts.” (Cary’s translation.)

Early in the year 1909 Messrs. Holscher and Steindorff,
at the expense of Dr. E. Sieglin of Stuttgart, began to excavate
the funerary temple of the Pyramid of Chephren, and,
after two months’ work, they were able to obtain a clear idea of
its general plan and character. According to their preliminary
report, this temple was connected with the so-called Temple of
476 THIRD PYRAMID AT GIZAH.
the Sphinx by means of a path, the use of which was hitherto

unknown. The entrance to this path, which is about 470
yards long, is at the north end of the Great Hall of Columns in
the Temple of the Sphinx. The entrance to the funerary
temple was near the south-east corner. At the end of the
entrance passage was another passage which ran north and
south. On the south end were two store rooms, and on the
north a large ante-chamber with four store rooms beyond it.
On the west side of the ante-chamber was the entrance to a
wide hall with 14 square pillars. At the north and south sides
were two passages, which ran due west, and joined two other
passages, one of which ran north and the other south. On the
west side of the wide hall was a passage leading to a long
rectangular hall with 10 square pillars, and on the west side of
this was a passage which led to the Great Hall of Columns,
which occupied the whole width of the building. This hall
contained 12 square pillars, two on the north and two on the
south sides, and four on the east and four on the west sides,
Beyond were five chambers, each containing a statue of
the king, and beyond this were five other chambers, which
were reached by a passage on the south side from the Great
Hall of Columns. On the north side of the Great Hall was
another passage by which the court, which lay between the
temple and the pyramid, could be reached. At the west end
were other smaller chambers, the use of which is unknown.
Most of the walls appear to have been built of alabaster
faced with granite, and the pillars were of granite. The total
length of the temple must have been nearly 400 feet.
The third pyramid at Gizah was built by Men = kau = Pa,
the fourth king of the IVth dynasty, about
3633 b.c., who called it <^L ^/\ Her. Herodotus and other
,
=>
ancient authors tell us that Men-kau-Ra, or Mycerinus,
was buried in this pyramid, but Manetho states that Nitocris, a
queen of the Vlth dynasty, was the builder. There can be,
however, but little doubt that it was built by Mycerinus, for the
sarcophagus and the remains of the inscribed coffin of this
king were found in one of its chambers by Howard Vyse in
1837. The sarcophagus, which measured 8 feet by 3 feet by
2^ feet, was lost through the wreck of the ship in which it was
sent to England, but the venerable fragments of the coffin are
preserved in the British Museum, and form one of the most
THIRD PYRAMID AT GIZAH. 47 7
Gizah.
at
Mycerinus
of
Pyramid
tPe
of
Section
478 THIRD PYRAMID AT GIZAH.
valuable objects in the famous collection of that institution.

The inscription reads “ Osiris, king of the North and South,
:
“ Men-kau-Ra, living for ever The heavens have produced

!
“ thee, thou wast engendered by Nut (the sky), thou art the
“ offspring of Keb (the earth). Thy mother Nut spreads
“ herself over thee in her form as a divine mystery. She has
“ granted thee to be a god, thou shalt nevermore have enemies,
“ O
king of the North and South, Men-kau-Ra, living for
“ ever.” This formula is one which is found upon coffins down
to the latest period, but as the date of Mycerinus is known, it
is possible to draw some interesting and valuable conclusions
from the fact that it is found upon his coffin. It proves that
as far back as 3,6co years before Christ the Egyptian religion was
established on a firm base, and that the doctrine of immortality
was already deeply rooted in the human mind. The art of
preserving the human body by embalming was also well under-
stood and generally practised at that early date.
The pyramid of Men-kau-Ra, like that of Chephren, is built
upon a rock with a sloping surface ; the inequality of the
surface in this case has been made level by building up courses
of large blocks of stones. Around the lower part the remains
of the old granite covering are visible to a depth of from
30 feet to 40 feet. It is unfortunate that this pyramid has
been so much damaged ;
its injuries, however, enable the
visitor to see exactly how was built, and it may be concluded
it
that the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren were built in the

same manner. The length of each side at the base is about
350 feet, and its height is variously given as 210 feet and
215 feet. The entrance is on the north side, about 13 feet
above the ground, and a descending corridor about 104 feet
long, passing through an ante-chamber, having a series of
three granite doors, leads into one chamber about 40 feet long,
and a second chamber about 44 feet long. In this last
chamber is a shaft which leads down to the granite lined
-
chamber about 20 feet below, in which were found the

sarcophagus and wooden coffin of Mycerinus, and the remains
of a human body. It is thought that, in spite of the body of
Mycerinus being buried in this pyramid, it was left unfinished
at the death of this king, and that a succeeding ruler of Egypt
finished the pyramid and made a second chamber to hold his
or her body. At a short distance to the east of this pyramid
are the ruins of a temple which was probably used in connec-
tion with the rites performed in honour of the dead king. In
— ;
THE SPHINX. 479
a.d. 1196 a deliberate and systematic attempt was made to

destroy this pyramid by the command of the Muhammadan
ruler of Egypt.
The account of the character of Mycerinus and of his
pyramid as given by Herodotus (ii, 134), is as follows :
44
They said that after him, Mycerinus, son of Cheops, reigned
44
over Egypt that the conduct of his father was displeasing to
;
44
him and that he opened the temples, and permitted the people,
;
44
who were worn down to the last extremity, to return to their
44
employments, and to sacrifices and that he made the most just
;
44
decisions of all their kings. On this account, of all the kings that
44
ever reigned in Egypt, they praise him most, for he both judged
44
well in other respects, and, moreover, when any man complained
of his decision, he used to make him some present out of his own
44
44
treasury and pacify his anger. . This king also left a pyramid
. .
44
much less than that of his father, being on each side 20 feet short
44
of three plethra ;
it is quadrangular, and built half-way up of
44
Ethiopian stone. Some of the Grecians erroneously say that this
44
pyramid is the work of the courtesan Rhodopis; but they evidently
44
appear to me ignorant who Rhodopis was for they would not
;
44
else have attributed to her the building of such a pyramid, on
44
which, so to speak, numberless thousands of talents were ex-
44
pended besides, Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, and
;
44
not at this time ; for she was very many years later than those
44
kings who left these pyramids.” (Cary’s translation.)
In one of the three small pyramids near that of Mycerinus
the name of this king is painted on the ceiling. The
age of the Sphinx is unknown, and few of the facts con-
nected with its history have come down to these days.
Some years ago it was generally believed to have been made
during the rule of the kings of the Middle Empire over Egypt,
but when the stele which recorded the repairs made in the
Temple of the Sphinx by Thothmes IV, 1450 b.c., came to
light, it became certain that it was the work of a far older
period. The stele records that one day during an after dinner
sleep, Harmachis appeared to Thothmes IV, and promised to
bestow upon him the crown of Egypt if he would dig his image,
i.e., the Sphinx, out of the sand. At the end of the inscription
part of the name of Kha-f-Ra or Chephren appears, and hence
some have thought that this king was the maker of the Sphinx
as the statue of Chephren was subsequently found in the temple
close by, this theory was generally adopted, but an inscription
found by Mariette near one of the pyramids to the east of the
pyramid of Cheops shows that the Sphinx existed in the time
of Khufu or Cheops. The Egyptians called the Sphinx hu ,
| ^ and he represented the god Harmachis, iK e. x Heru-

480 THE SPHINX.
em-khut, /
-— fOi ,
u
Horns in the horizon, ” or the rising
sun, the conqueror of darkness, the god of the morning. On

the tablet erected by Thothmes IV, Harmachis says that he
gave life and dominion to Thothmes III, and he promises to
give the same good gifts to his successor, Thothmes IV. The
discovery of the steps which led up to the Sphinx, of a smaller
Sphinx, and of an open temple, etc., was made by Caviglia, who
first excavated this monument ; within the last few years very
extensive excavations have been made round it by the Egyptian
Government, and several hitherto unseen parts of it have been
brought to view.
The Sphinx is hewn out of the living rock, but pieces of
stone have been added where necessary; the body is about
150 feet long, the paws are 50 feet long, the head is 30 feet
long, the face is 14 feet, wide, and from the top of the
head to the base of the monument the distance is about
70 feet. Originally there probably were ornaments on the
head, the whole of which was covered with a limestone
covering, and the face was coloured red ; of these decorations
scarcely any traces now remain, though they were visible
towards the end of the last century. The condition in which
the monument now appears is due to the savage destruction of
its- features by the Muhammadan rulers of Egypt, some of
whom caused it to be used for a target. Around this imposing

whose origin is wrapped in mystery, a number
relic of antiquity,
of legends arid superstitions have clustered in all ages ; but
Egyptology has shown (1) that it was a colossal image of
Ra- ITarmachis, and therefore of his human representative upon
earth, the king of Egypt who had it hewn, and (2) that it was
in existence in the time of, and was probably repaired by,
Cheops and Chephren, who lived about 3700 b.c.
A little to the south-east of the Sphinx stands the large granite
and limestone temple excavated by M. Mariette in 1853; it
was probably dedicated to the god Seker, but is commonly
known as the Temple of the Sphinx. Statues of Chephren
(now in Cairo) were found at the bottom of a well or pit in
one of its chambers, and now it is known that he was the
builder of it. It is a good specimen of the solid simple build-
ings which the Egyptians built during the Ancient Empire. In
one chamber, and ar the end of the passage leading from it, are
hewn in the wall niches which may have been intended to hold
mummies.
The Tomb of Numbers was made (or Kha-f-R,a-ankb> a
;
PYRAMIDS OF ABUSIR. 481
“ royal relative ” and priest of Chephren (Kha-f-Ra), the builder

of the second pyramid. It is called the “ tomb of numbers,”
because the numbers of the cattle possessed by KhaT-Ra-ankh
are written upon its walls.
Campbell’s Tomb, named after the British Consul-General
of Egypt at that time, was excavated by Howard Vyse in 1837 ;
it is not older than the XXVIth dynasty. The shaft is about
55 feet deep ; at the bottom of it is a small chamber, and near
it are niches in which were found four sarcophagi.
The pyramids of Gizah are surrounded by a large number of

tombs of high officials and others connected with the services
carried on in honour of the kings who built the pyramids.
Some few of them are of considerable interest, and as they are
perishing little by little, it is advisable to see as many of the
best specimens as possible.
The Pyramids of Abu Roash lie about six miles north of
the Pyramids of Gizah, and are thought to be older than they.
Nothing remains of one except five or six courses of stone,
which show that the length of each side at the base was about
350 feet, and a passage about 160 feet long leading down to a
subterranean chamber about 43 feet long. A pile of stones
close by marks the site of another pyramid ; the others have
disappeared. Of the age of those pyramids nothing certain is
known. The remains of a causeway about a mile long leading
to them are still visible.
The Pyramids of Abusir lie about eight miles to the south
of the Pyramids of Gizah. These pyramids were originally 14
in number, and the largest of them were built by kings of the
Vth dynasty. On the way thither the ruins of Ar-Rikali are
passed. Formerly these were thought to be the remains of a
pyramid, but it has now been proved that they represent the
great sun = temple called Shespu-ab-Ra O 2S: \ 'O’ which
was built by User-en-Ra, or Nuser-Ra a king

^ [l
of the Vth dynasty. In all such sun-temples the Sun-god Ra

was represented by an obelisk. These ruins lie about 1,300
yards to the north-east of the pyramid of this king, and were
excavated at the expense of Dr. F. von Bissing by Drs.
Borchardt and Schafer in 1898-1901 (see A eg. Zeit 1899, p. r .,
1901, p. 91). The general arrangement of a sun-temple under

the Vth dynasty may be thus described At the western end
:
of a rectangular walled enclosure, about 325 feet long and 245

2 H
2 PYRAMIDS OF ABUSIR.
feet broad, stood a truncated or “ blunted ” pyramid, and on

the top of was an obelisk. In front of the east side of the
it
pyramid stood an alabaster altar, and on the north side of the

altar were channels along which the blood of the victims ran
into alabaster bowls, which were placed to receive it. On the
north side of the enclosure was a row of store rooms, and on
the east and south sides were passages, the walls of which were
decorated with reliefs. Opposite the altar, on the east side,
was a gateway, and from this ran a pathway, which led by an
inclined causeway to another gate, which formed the entrance
to another large enclosure, about 1,000 feet square. In this
enclosure lived the priests, and in it were kept the sacred objects
which were carried in processions on days of festival. Of the
details of the worship performed in these temples we know
nothing, but it is quite clear that the stone obelisk was the
symbol of the Sun-god, and that in it a portion of his spirit
dwelt. From this obelisk the spirit
of thegod looked out and witnessed
the slaughter of the victims sacri-
ficed, and enjoyed the spirit-enti-
ties of the various offerings which
were made to him. The sun-
symbol here represented suggests
that the earliest worshippers of the
sun believed that their god dwelt
L in a particular stone of pyramidal

shape. At a later period, when per-
haps their descendants in other
parts of the country could not find a stone of similar shape, a
stone in the form of a truncated pyramid was adopted as a symbol
of the sun. Later still the obelisk was developed, and under the
Vth dynasty we see that the solar symbol consisted of a truncated
pyramid with an obelisk set upon it. Where this symbol was
invented is not known, but as it was connected with sun worship,
it is difficult not to assume that it was introduced into Egypt from
Arabia or Western Asia ; for among the indigenous Africans in

early times the cult of the sun was not widespread. The Egyptian
loved the moon, and the festivals of the new moon and full
moon were his delight. And many of the modern peoples of
Africa, whilst holding the moon in very great reverence, regard
the sun with indifference, if not detestation. The exact
signification of the sun-symbol is not known. According to
some the obelisk represented the axis of earth and of heaven ;
PYRAMIDS OF ABUSIR. 483
others again regard it as possessing a phallic signification ; and

others believe that the idea associated with it was the produc-
tion of fire and heat. But whatever its signification may have
been, ne obelisk represented the visible presence of Ra, the
Sun-god, in Egypt. And in every sanctuary was a shrine in
which, behind sealed doors, was a model of an obelisk, which
was jealously guarded, and was only seen by the king on the
most solemn occasions. The cult of the standing stone, or
pillar, is probably older than the cult of Ra, and the old name
of Heliopolis, or the “ Sun-city,” is Anu i.e., the “ city of

j| ^
the pillar.” With this city was associated the cult of the
phallus, and on its altars human beings were sacrificed to the
sun.
The most northerly of the Pyramids of Abusir was built
by 5ahu = Ra the second king of the Vth
dynasty, about 3 533 b.c. Its actual height is about 120 feet,
and the length of each side at the base is about 220 feet.
Recent investigations made by Dr. Borchardt show that the
Pyramid of Sahu-Ra was approached from the low-lying land
near the river by a causeway nearly 650 feet in length. At the
eastern end of it stood a sort of tower-gate, which was built on
the river bank, and had a flight of steps going down to the
water. The portico contained eight pillars, and the little hall
beyond two, and passing through this and along a short
passage the visitor reached the causeway, or covered passage,
which led to the funerary temple. This temple consisted of a
narrow, rectangular chamber, with an entrance into a large hall,
and beyond this, westwards, were several small chambers, store
rooms, and a chamber in which ceremonies were performed
privately for the benefit of the dead. To the south of this
temple, in an angle formed by the east and south walls of the
pyramid enclosure, is the pyramid tomb of the Queen of
Sahu-Ra. The entrance to the sarcophagus chamber in the
middle of the king’s pyramid is on the north side.
The pyramid of User-en-Ra, whose name as the son of
Ra was 0^1 was called “ Men-asut
0 AVWW
:
JP WWW 1I1I1IA
and was provided with a large funerary temple, which was
built on its eastern side. Prom the eastern end of the
2 h 2
—
484 SAKKARAH.
temple ran a causeway, over a thousand feet long, which

terminated in a massive tower-gate that stood on a spot
reached by the waters of the Nile during the period of the
inundation. This gateway was built on a rectangular platform,
on the river-side of which there was a flight of steps, whereby
visitors might ascend, first to the platform and next to the
causeway. From the western end of the causeway we pass
into a long rectangular court, vith several store roc ms on each
side of it, and thence through a narrow doorway into the Hall
of Columns of the funerary temple. West of this hall is a
series of chambers, of many of which the use is unknown
They occupy the whole space between it and the pyramid.
At the south-east corner of the pyramid is the small pyramid
wherein the Queen of User-en-Ra was buried. Immediately to
the north of the funerary temple of the king is the Mastabah tomb
of Userkaf-ankh
^ “f "f" Q >
and to the north of
this is the tomb of Tchatcha-em-ankh @ the king’s
deputy, or viceroy. On the east side of these tombs are tombs of
the princesses Nebti-kha-merer and Tefsmert
Further to the north is the tomb of Ptah-shepses,

who flourished under the IVth dynasty. The largest pyramid
of all was built by Nefer = ka = ari = Ra, son of Ra, Kakaa,
f uu|] ;
its height is about 160 feet.
15. The Necropolis of Sakkarah, Pyramids of

Dahshur, etc.
The ruins of Memphis and the antiquities at Sakkarah are
usually reached by steamer or train from Cairo to Badrashen, a
village with 6,623 inhabitants, which lies about 14 miles south
of Cairo. Leaving the river or station the village of Badrashen
is soon reached, and a short ride brings the traveller to
the village of Mit>Rahmah. On the ground lying for some
distance round about these two villages once stood the
city of Memphis, though there is comparatively little left to
show its limits. According to Herodotus (ii,
99) :
“ Menes, who ruled over Egypt, in the first place protected

first
“ Memphis by a mound ; for the whole river formerly ran close to
)
CITY OF MEMPHIS. 485
“ the sandy mountain on the side of Libya but Menes, beginning

;
“about a hundred stades above Memphis, filled in the elbow towards

“ the south, dried up the old channel, and conducted the river into a
“ canal, so as to make it flow between the mountains this bend of :
“the Nile, which flows excluded from its ancient course is still ,
“carefully upheld by the Persians, being made secure every year ;
“for if the river should break through and overflow in this part,
“ there would be danger lest all Memphis should be flooded. When
“ the part cut off had been made firm land by this Menes, who was
“ first king, he in the first place built on it the city that is now called
“ Memphis for Memphis is situate in the narrow part of Egypt;
;
“and outside of it he excavated a lake from the river towards the

“ north and the west for the Nile itself bounds it towards the east.
;
“ In the next place, they relate that he built in it the temple of
“ Vulcan, which is vast and well worthy of mention.” (Cary’s
translation.
Whether Menes town or not, it is quite certain that

built the
the city of Memphis was
of most ancient foundation. The
reason why the kings of Egypt established their capital there is
obvious. From the peoples that lived on the western bank of
the river they had little to fear, but on the eastern side they
were always subject to invasions of the peoples who lived
in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Arabia; with their capital on the
western bank, and the broad Nile as a barrier on the east of it,
they were comparatively safe. Added to this, its situation at
the beginning of the Delta enabled it to participate easily of the
good things of that rich country. The tract of land upon
which Memphis stood was also fertile and well wooded.
Diodorus speaks of its green meadows, intersected with canals,
and of their pavement of lotus flowers ; Pliny talks of trees
there of such girth that three men with extended arms could
not span them ; Martial praises the roses brought from thence
to Rome ; and its wine was celebrated in lands remote from it.
The site chosen was excellent, for in addition to its natural
advantages it was not far from the sea-coast of the Delta, and
holding as it were a middle position in Egypt, its kings were
able to hold and rule the country from Philae on the south
to the Mediterranean on the north. In the inscriptions it is
5
called “the beautiful dwelling/ “the temple of the double
55
of Ptah, and “the white-walled city. 55 The last name calls
55
to mind the “White Castle spoken of by classical writers.
Teta, son of Menes, built his palace there, and Ka-Kau
,
the second king of the Ilnd dynasty, 4100 b.c..
established the worship of Apis there. During the rule of

4 86 COLOSSAL STATUE OF RAMESES II.
the Illrd, IVth, and Vlth dynasties, the kings of which sprang
from Memphis, that city reached a height of splendour which
was probably never excelled. The most celebrated building
there was the temple of Ptah, which was beautified and adorned
by a number of kings, the last of whom reigned during the
XX Vlth dynasty. The Hyksos ravaged, but did not destroy
the city ; under the rule of the Theban kings, who expelled the
Hyksos, the city flourished for a time, although Thebes became
the new capital. When Rameses II returned from his wars in
the east, he set up a statue of himself in front of the temple of
Ptah there ; Piankhi the Ethiopian besieged it ; the Assyrian
kings, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, captured it Cambyses the
;
Persian, having wrought great damage there, killed the magis-

trates of the city and the priests of the temple of Apis, and
smote the Apis bull so that he died ; he established a Persian
garrison there. After the founding of Alexandria, Memphis lost
whatever glory it then possessed, and became merely the chief
provincial city of Egypt. During the reign of Theodosius,
a savage attack, the result of his edict, was made upon its
temples and buildings by the Christians, and a few hundred
years later the Muhammadans carried the stones, which once
formed them, across the river to serve as building materials for
their houses and mosques. The circuit of the ancient city,
according to Diodorus, was 150 stadia, or about 13 miles. In
1907, Professor Petrie began to excavate a portion of the site of
Memphis. He traced out the enclosure of the temple of Ptah,
discovered a part of a temple of Hathor, cleared out a building of
King Sa-Amen, and a building of Mer-en-Ptah, and located the
site of the camp of Memphis, where he found the ruins of the
palace of Apries, which is said to have covered two acres, and
was probably built upon the remains of earlier palaces. He
recovered a number of bas-reliefs which illustrate the celebra-
tion of the Set Festival.
The Colossal Statue of Rameses II. —
This magnificent
statue was discovered by Messrs. Caviglia and Sloane in 1820,
and was presented by them to the British Museum. On
account of its weight and the lack of public interest in such
matters, it lay near the road leading from Badrashen to Mit-
Rahinah, and little by little became nearly covered with the
annual deposit of Nile mud during the inundation the greater
;
part of it was covered by the waters of the Nile. During the

winter of 1886-7 Sir Frederick Stephenson collected a sum of
money in Cairo for the purpose of lifting it out of the hollow
;
THE STEP PYRAMID. 487
in which it lay, and the difficult engineering part of the task

was ably accomplished by Colonel Arthur Bagnold, R.E.
This statue is made of a fine hard limestone, and measures
about 42 feet in height ; it is probably one of the statues
which stood in front of the temple of Ptah, mentioned by
Herodotus and Diodorus. The prenomen of Rameses II
Ra-usr-maat-setep-en-Ra, is inscribed on
the belt of the statue, and on the end of the roll which the king
carries in his hand “Rameses, beloved of Amen.”
are the words
By the side of the king are figures of a daughter and son of
Rameses. The famous temple of Ptah founded by Menes was
situated to the south of the statue. A portion of another
colossal statue lies comparatively near it.
Sakkarah. — The name Sakkarah probably represents in
sound the name of Seker an ancient Egyptian god

$ 3 ’
of death. The
tract of land at Sakkarah which formed the
great burial ground of the ancient Egyptians of all periods is
about 4^. miles long and one mile wide ; the most important
objects of interest there are (1) The Step Pyramid
: (2) The ;
Pyramid of Unas; (3) The Pyramid of Teta (4) The ;
Pyramid of Pepi I (5) The Pyramid of Mer-en-Ra (6) The

; ;
Pyramid of Pepi II; (7) The Serapeum (8) The Tomb of ;
Thi (9) Tomb of Ptah-hetep (10) Tomb of Kaqemna, etc.

; ;
(n) Mariette’s house.

1. The Step Pyramid was built by the third king of
the Illrd dynasty (called Tcheser in the Tablet of

J,
Abydos), who is said to have built a pyramid at Kochome
(i.e., Ka-Kam), near Sakkarah. Though the date of this pyramid
is not known accurately, we are undoubtedly right in asserting
that it is older than the pyramids of Gizah. The door which
led into the pyramid was inscribed with the name of a king
called Ra-nub, and M. Mariette found the same name on
one of the stelae in the Serapeum. The steps of the pyramid
are six in number, and are about 38, 36, 34^, 32, 31, and
29^ feet in height the width of each step is from 6 to 7 feet.
:
The lengths of the sides at the base are north and south, :
352 feet; east and west, 396 feet; and the actual height is
197 feet. In shape this pyramid is oblong, and its sides do
not exactly face the cardinal points. The arrangement of the
chambers inside this pyramid is peculiar to itself.
4 88 THE PYRAMIDS OF UNAS, TETA.
2. The Pyramid of Unas called in Egyptian
Nefer-as-u, lies to the south-east of the Step Pyramid, and was

reopened and cleared out in 1881 by M. Maspero, at the
expense of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son. Its original height
was about 62 feet, and the length of each side at the base
220 feet.* Owing to the broken blocks and sand which lie
round about it, Vyse was unable to give exact measurements.
Several attempts had been made to break into it, and one of
the Arabs who took part in one of these attempts, “ Ahmad the
Carpenter,” seems to have left his name inside one of the
chambers in red ink. It is probable that he is the same man
who opened the Great Pyramid at Gizah, a.d. 820, A black
basalt sarcophagus, from which the cover had been dragged off,
and an arm, a shin-bone, some ribs, and fragments of the skull
of the mummy of Unas, were found in the sarcophagus
chamber. The walls of the two largest chambers and two of
the corridors are inscribed with ritual texts and prayers of a
very interesting character. Unas, the last king of the Yth
dynasty, reigned about 30 years. The Mastabat al-Firiaun was
thought by Mariette to be the tomb of Unas, but other scholars
thought that the “ blunted pyramid ” at Dahshhr was his tomb,
because his name was written upon the top of it.
3 . The Pyramid of Teta called in Egyptian Tet-asu,
lies to the north-east of the Step Pyramid, and was opened

in 1881. The Arabs call it the Prison Pyramid, because
local tradition says that it is built near the ruins of the
prison where Joseph the patriarch was confined. Its actual
height is about 59 feet, the length of each side at the base is
210 feet, and the platform at the top is about 50 feet. The
arrangement of the chambers and passages and the plan of
construction followed are almost identical with those of the
pyramid of Unas. This pyramid was broken into in ancient
days, and two of the chamber have
walls of the sarcophagus
literally been smashed by the hammer-blows of those
to pieces
who expected to find treasure inside them. The inscriptions,
painted in green upon the walls, have the same subject-matter
as those inscribed upon the walls of the chambers of the
pyramid of Unas. According to Manetho, Teta, the first king
of the YIth dynasty, reigned about 50 years, and was murdered
by one of his guards. The Pyramids of cheser, L nas, and
I
Teta belong to the Northern Group at Sakkarah,

MONASTERY OF SAINT JEREMIAH. 489
In the spring of 1905 Mr. J. E. Quibell began to excavate

the portion of the great cemetery at Sakkarah which lies
to the east of the Pyramid of Teta, with the view of clearing
the funerary temple of this king. In the course of the work
a mastabah and several tombs of various periods, etc., were
found, and a certain number of small antiquities. In 1906-7,
the work was continued, and several important objects, includ-
ing inscribed sarcophagi of the Middle Empire, were discovered,
together with some fine “ false doors ” in stone, portrait figures
in wood, figures of servants, boats, etc. During this season
Mr. Quibell began to excavate a site on the edge of the desert
called Ras al-Gisr, or “ head of the dyke/’ some 600 feet
square, which contained the ruins of an ancient Coptic
monastery. These were identified some years ago by Professor
Maspero as the Monastery of Saint Jeremiah, a famous
Coptic saint who flourished in the latter half of the fifth
century of our era. The plan of the monastery as published
by Mr. Quibell, and the coloured reproductions of the figures
of saints, etc., which adorn the walls of several of its chambers,
suggest that some parts of the monastery are older than this
date, and that they belong to the fourth century. On the
other hand many parts of the actual remains suggest a very
much later date, and some of the repairs and several of the
chambers are clearly the work of the ninth century. In 1908
the excavation of the monastery was continued, and the ruins
of a church were brought to light. The form of this building
was a basilica, with a nave about 33 feet wide, two narrow
aisles, and three entrances, the main entrance being from the
narthex. From the screen to the west is a distance of about
80 feet. Most of the columns were of limestone, four were
of granite, and three of marble. The remains of the walls
show that their construction was bad, and they suggest that
the church was the latest erected on the site. The east end
was decorated with mosaics. The position of the foundations
of the apse proves that the earlier building was longer than
the later. Round about the church were several brick cells
and rooms which served as dwelling-places for the brethren,
offices, store rooms, etc. During the same season Mr. Quibell
cleared out a portion of the funerary temple of the Pyra-
mid of Teta, and in the course of the work discovered the
death mask of King Teta, and a fine stele of Nektanebes,
the last native king of Egypt, dated in the second year of his
reign, and describing the building of a temple in honour of
490 THE PYRAMIDS OF PEPI I, MERENRA.
the living Apis. Besides this, several mastabah tombs were

excavated, and the antiquities discovered in some of them
were of considerable interest.
4 „ The Pyramid of Pepi I, or

duii
“ Ra-meri, son of the Sun, Pepi,’ lies to the south of the Step
5
¥ dH
Pyramid, and forms one of the central group of pyramids at
Sakkarah, where it is called the Pyramid of Shekh Abu Mansur ;
it was opened in 1880. Its actual height is about 40 feet, and

the length of each side at the base is about 250 feet; the
arrangement of the chambers, etc., inside is the same as in the
pyramids of Unas and Teta, but the ornamentation is slightly
different. It is the worst preserved of these pyramids, and has
suffered most at the hands of the spoilers, probably because
having been constructed with stones which were taken from
tombs ancient already in those days, instead of stones fresh
from the quarry, it was more easily injured. The granite
sarcophagus was broken to take out the mummy, fragments
of which were found lying about on the ground the cover too,;
smashed in pieces, lay on the ground close by. A small rose

granite box, containing alabaster jars, was also found in the
sarcophagus chamber. The inscriptions are, like those inscribed
on the walls of the pyramids of Unas and Teta, of a religious
nature ; some scholars see in them evidence that the pyramid
was usurped by another Pepi, who lived at a much later period
than the Vlth dynasty. The pyramid of Pepi I, the third king
of the Vlth dynasty, who reigned, according to Manetho,
53 years, was called in Egyptian by the same name as Memphis,
i.e., Men-nefer, and numerous priests were attached to its
service. Pepi’s kingdom embraced all Egypt, and he waged
war against the inhabitants of the peninsula of Sinai. He is
said to have set up an obelisk at Heliopolis, and to have laid
the foundation of the temple at Denderah. His success as a
conqueror was due in great measure to the splendid abilities of
one of his chief officers called Una, who warred successfully
against the various hereditary foes of Egypt on its southern and
eastern borders.
5. The Pyramid of Merenra with the pre-
Mehti-en-sa-f, the eldest
son of Pepi I. This pyramid is No. 8 on the map of Vyse

PYRAMID OF PEPI II. 491
and Perring, and is called by the Arabs “ Haram al Sayyadin,”

or the “ Pyramid of the Hunters.” An entrance was made
into the pyramid by natives in the Middle Ages, and at the
beginning of the nineteenth century the villagers of Sakkarah
reopened it and carried off a number of alabaster vases.
They destroyed some of the walls of the inner chambers in
their quest for buried treasure, and dug a pit in it some 16 feet
deep in their search. The sarcophagus, which is of black
granite, was opened by the thieves,and the mummy, now in
Plan of Merenra’s Tomb.
the EgyptianMuseum in Cairo, was stripped of everything.

The length of each side of the pyramid at the base is about
260 feet, and its height about 87 feet. This pyramid was
cleared out by Mariette in the winter of 1 880-1, and the
work was completed about a fortnight before his death, which
took place on January 18. The walls of the chambers and
corridors of the pyramid are covered with religious texts, many
of which are duplicates of the texts found in the older pyra-
mids of this group.
The Pyramid
6. of Pepi IS
^ (j
(jj
with the prenomen
O lj"j Nefer-ka-ra. This pyramid is No. 9 on the

^ J
map of Vyse and Perring, and is called by the Arabs “ Haram
al-Mastabah.” It is built in steps, and closely resembles the
Pyramid of Merenra. The length of each side at the base is
245 feet, and its height is 95 feet. It was cleared out in 1881
by Professor Maspero, who in the April of that year was nearly
buried alive in it owing to a sudden fall of stones and debris ?
49 2 THE SERAPEUM.
which blocked the chambers for several hours. The walls of

the corridors and chambers of this pyramid also are covered
Tomb of Unas.
£
~—>z
A. Entrance blocked. B. Hall for offerings (?).

CCC. Slabs of stone to block the corridor.
D. Hall with short corridors leading to serd&b E and
lj lJ J sarcophagus chamber F.
G. Sarcophagus.
H. Cover of the sarcophagus.
with inscriptions of a religious character, and of these some
are found in this pyramid only.
7. The Serapeum or Apis Mausoleum contained the
vaults in which all the Apis Bulls that lived at Memphis were
buried. According to Herodotus, Apis “is the calf of a cow
“ incapable of conceiving another offspring and the Egyptians ;
“ say that lightning descends upon the cow from heaven, and
“ that from thence it brings forth Apis. This calf, which is
“ called Apis, has the following marks It is black, and has a
:
u triangular spot of white on the forehead, and on the back the

“ figure of an eagle and in the tail double hairs ; and on the
;
“ tongue a beetle. 7
Above each tomb of an Apis bull was
’
built a chapel, and it was the series of chapels which formed

the Serapeum properly so called ; it was surrounded by walls
like the other Egyptian temples, and it had pylons to which an
avenue of sphinxes led. This remarkable building was excavated
in 1850 by M. Mariette, who having seen in various parts of
Egypt sphinxes upon which were written the names of Osiris =
Apis, or Serapis, concluded that they must have come from
the Serapeum or temple of Serapis spoken of by Strabo.
Happening, by chance, to discover one day at Sakkarah a
sphinx having the same characteristics, he made up his mind
that he had lighted upon the remains of the long sought-for
building. The excavations which he immediately undertook
brought to light the Avenue of Sphinxes, 11 statues of Greek
philosophers, and the vaults in which the Apis bulls were
buried. These vaults are of three kinds, and show that the
TOMB OF THI. 493
Apis bulls were buried in different ways at different periods :
the oldest Apis sarcophagus laid here belongs to the reign of

Amenophis Ilf, about 1450 b.c. The parts of the Apis
Mausoleum in which the Apis bulls were buried from the
XVII Ith to the XXV
th dynasty are not visible
I but the new ;
gallery, which contains 64 vaults, the oldest of which dates

from the reign of Psammetichus I, and the most modern from
the time of the Ptolemies, can be seen on application to the
guardian of the tombs. The vaults are excavated on each side
of the gallery, and each was intended to receive a granite
sarcophagus. The names of Amasis II, Cambyses, and Khab-
besha are found upon three of the sarcophagi, but most of
them are uninscribed. Twenty-four granite sarcophagi still
remain in position, and they each measure about 13 feet by
8 feet by 1 1 feet. The discovery of these tombs was of the
greatest importance historically, for on the walls were found
thousands of dated stelae which gave accurate chronological
data for the history of Egypt. These votive tablets mention
the years, months, and days of the reign of the king in which
the Apis bulls, in whose honour the tablets were set up, were
born and buried. The Apis tombs had been rifled in ancient
times, and only two of them contained any relics when
M. Mariette opened them out.
8. The Tomb of Thi lies to the north-east of the Apis
Mausoleum, and was built during the Vth dynasty, about
3500 b.c. Thi (|(j
W as a man who held the dignities of
smer, royal councillor, superintendent of works, scribe of the
court, confidant of the king, etc. he held also priestly rank as
;
prophet, and was attached to the service of the pyramids of

Abusir. He had sprung from a family of humble origin, but
his abilities were so esteemed by one of the kings, whose
faithful servant he was, that a princess called Nefer-hetep-s
was given him to wife, and his children, Thi and Tamut,
ranked as princes. Thi held several high offices under Kakaa
( ULI f j
and User-en-Ra kings of the
Vth dynasty. The tomb or mastabah of Thi is now nearly

covered with sand, but in ancient days the whole building was
above the level of the ground. The chambers of the tomb
having been carefully cleared, it is possible to enter them and
examine the very beautiful sculptures and paintings with which
the walls are decorated. To describe these wonderful works
494 MARIETTAS HOUSE.
of art adequately would require more space than can be given

here ; it must be sufficient to say that the scenes represent Thi
superintending all the various operations connected with the
management of his large agricultural estates and farmyard,
together with illustrations of his hunting and fishing expeditions.
9. The Tomb
of Ptah = hetep, a priest who lived during
the Vth dynasty, is a short distance from Mariettas house.
The scenes in this mastabah are splendid examples of the best
class of the artistic work of the period as applied to tomb
ornamentation, and well worthy of more than one visit.
10. To the north-east of the Step Pyramid, and close to
the pyramid of Teta, are the tomb of Kaqemna, a high
official under the Vth or Vlth dynast)', which was excavated
under the direction of M. de Morgan ; the family vault of
Mereruka, wherein his wife and son had separate tombs ;
and a group of tombs, which were excavated by M. Victor
Loret in 1899. Further to the south is the Mastabat
al = Fir‘aun,* a royal tomb, probably of the Vth dynasty.
The most interesting of all the pyramids at Sakkarah are those
having chambers and corridors inscribed with hieroglyphic
texts, viz., the Pyramids of Unas, Teta, Pepi I, Pepi II,
Mer-en-Ra, etc.
1 1. —
Mariette’s House. This house, which lies a little to
the east of the Serapeum, was the headquarters of M. Mariette
and his staff when employed in making excavations in the
Necropolis of Sakkarah in 1850 and 1851. It is not easy to
estimate properly the value to science of the work of this
distinguished man. It is true that fortune gave him the
opportunity of excavating some of the most magnificent of the
buildings of the Pharaohs of all periods, and of hundreds of
ancient towns nevertheless, it is equally true that his energy
;
and marvellous power of work enabled him to use to the fullest

extent the means for advancing the science of Egyptology which
had been put in his hands. It is to be hoped that his house
will be preserved on its present site as a remembrance of a
great man who did a great work.
16. Cairo to Helouan (Helwan).

Helwan about 14 miles from Cairo, and is reached by
is
* The Mastabat al-Fir‘aun was visited by Edward Melton in the second

half of the seventeenth century, and he says that the Arabs told him that
the Pharaohs used to climb on to the top of it each time they had a new
law to declare to the people. (
Zee-en Land-Reizen , Amsterdam, 1681,
P- 54 -)
PYRAMIDS OF DAHSHUR. 495
railway from the station in the Square at Bab al-Luk ; the

journey occupies from a half to three-quarters of an hour.
There is an English Church here.
Golf = courses, one for ladies (9 holes) and one for gentle-
men (18 holes), have been laid out in the desert, and there
are Tennis Courts at the Grand Hotel.
From Helwan interesting excursions may be made to Sak-
karah and other ancient sites in the neighbourhood on the
west bank of the Nile. On the east bank the famous
Quarries of Turah and Ma sarah (about 6 miles north of
£
Helwan), and the ancient Egyptian dam in Wadi Gerrawi

(about 8 miles to the south-east of Helwan), are well worth
visits.
17. Pyramids of Dahshur.

The Pyramids of Dahshur, and two of
four of stone
brick, are 1^ miles from the Mastabat al-Fir‘aun, once thought
to be the Pyramid of Unas. The largest stone pyramid is
about 326 feet high, and the length of each side at the base is
about 700 feet ; beneath it are three subterranean chambers.
The second stone pyramid is about 321 feet high, and the
length of each side at the base is 620 feet ; it is usually called
the Blunted Pyramid, because the lowest parts of its sides
are built at one angle, and the completing parts at another.
The larger of the two brick pyramids is about 90 feet high, and
the length of each side at the base is about 350 feet ; the
smaller is about 156 feet high, and the length of each side at
the base is about 343 feet. The brick pyramids were excavated
by M. de Morgan.
The Northern Pyramid is built of unburnt bricks laid
without mortar, in place of which sand is used, and an examina-
tion of them shows that they belong to the period of the Xllth
dynasty. Soon after the work of clearing had been begun, a
stone bearing the cartouche of Usertsen
was found, and thus a tolerably exact date was ascertained ; on
February 26th, 1894, the entrance to a pit was found, and in
the east corner there appeared an opening which led through
a gallery and sepulchral chamber to several tombs. In one
chamber were the fragments of a sarcophagus and statue of
Menthu = nesu, and in another was the sarcophagus of
Nefert = hent; it was quite clear that these tombs had been
wrecked in ancient days, and therefore to the pit by which
49<5 PYRAMIDS OF DAHSHUR.
they were reached M. de Morgan gave the name “ Pit of the

Spoilers.” Along the principal gallery were four tombs, and in
the second of these a queen had been buried on the lower;
stage "eight sarcophagi were found, but only two were inscribed.
Subsequently it was discovered that the burial-place of a series
of princesses had been found, and in consequence M. de
Morgan called the place “ Gallery of Princesses.” In one of
the tombs (No. 3) a granite chest containing four uninscribed
alabaster Canopic jars was found, and in another similar chest
a worm-eaten wooden box, containing four Canopic jars, was
also discovered. The four sides of the box were inscribed, but
the jars were plain. While the ground of the galleries was
A. The Northern Pyramid, built of bricks.

B. The Southern Pyramid, built of bricks.
being carefully examined, a hollow in the rock was found, and

a few blows of the pick-axe revealed a magnificent find of gold
and silver jewellery lying in a heap among the fragments of the
worm-eaten wooden box which held it. The box was about
11 inches long, and had been inlaid with silver hieroglyphics
which formed the name of the princess Hathor = Sat, for
whom the ornaments had been made. In the same tomb was
found a box full of the jewellery of the lady Merit. It would
seem that special care had been taken by the friends of the
deceased to conceal the boxes of jewellery, and thus the ancient
spoilers of the tomb had overlooked them. These beautiful
objects are now to be seen in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
;
PYRAMIDS OF DAHSHUR. 497
The wooden boats and sledge which were discovered outside

the wall enclosing the pyramid are worthy of note, and are of
considerable interest.
The southern brick pyramid of Dahshur is on a lower
level than the northern, and much of its upper portion has
been removed by the fellahin who treated it as a quarry for
,
the bricks with which they built their houses. It is, however,
in a better state of preservation than its fellow, and is still an
imposing object in the Egyptian landscape. M. de Morgan’s
estimate of the length of each side is 125 feet ; this pyramid is,
like the northern, built ofcrude bricks, and it was surrounded
by a wall of crude bricks, which enclosed the ground wherein
the members of the royal family were buried. While excavating
in this spot, M. de Morgan found some fragments of a base of
a statue inscribed with the prenomen of Amen-em-hat III,
and, judging from this fact and from the
general appearance of the site, he would ascribe this necropolis

to the period of the Xllth dynasty. About 20 feet from the
enclosing wall, at the north-east corner of the pyramid, two pits
were found, and the second of these proved to be the entrance
to a tomb. An inclined brick wall led to a small vaulted door,
and in the ruins here the workmen found a small, beautifully
worked, gilded wooden statue, on the base of which was
inscribed, “ Horus, the son of the Sun, of his body, giver of
Near the statue

i-
were two Canopic jars of alabaster, inscribed with the pre-
nomen of a new king Au-ab-Ra, who it seems

was co-regent with Amen-em-hat IV ;
the nomen of this
king was Heru. In the tomb
of this king were found: — (1) A magnificent wooden shrine

for the statue of the ka of King Au-ab-Ra or Heru
(2) Statue in wood of the ka { j
of King Au-ab-Ra, a unique
object of highest interest ; the execution is simply wonderful
(3) Rectangular alabaster stele with an inscription of King
Au-ab-Ra in 14 lines; the hieroglyphics are painted blue, etc.
In the coffin the wrecked mummy of the king was found.
2 1
498 QUARRIES OF MA‘SARAH AND TURAH.
On February 15th and 16th, 1895, M. de Morgan succeeded

in bringing to light, in the necropolis of Dahshur, a further
“find” of jewellery. These beautiful and interesting objects
were found in the tombs of the Princesses Ita and Khnemit,
which are situated to the west of the ruined pyramid of King
Amen-em-hat. By good fortune they had been overlooked by
the plunderers of tombs in ancient days, and so both the tombs
and the coffins inside them remained in the state in which they
had been left by the friends of the deceased more than 4,000
years ago.
On the east bank of the Nile, at a distance of about five miles
from Helwan, are the Quarries of Ma ‘sarah and Turah.
These quarries have supplied excellent stone for building
purposes for 6,000 years at least. During the Ancient Empire
the architects of the pyramids made their quarrymen tunnel
into the mountains for hundreds of yards until they found a
bed of stone suitable for their work, and traces of their excava-
tions are plainly visible to-day. The Egyptians called the
<= >
Ttirah Quarry p ^ Re-au, or Ta-re-au, from
which the Arabic name Turah is probably derived. An

inscription in one of the chambers us that during the
tells
reign of Amenophis III a new part of the quarry was opened.

Una, an officer who lived in the reign of Pepi I, was sent to
Tfirah by this king to bring back a white limestone sarcophagus
with its cover, libation stone, etc. The demotic inscriptions
which are found in the galleries were examined, and many of
them copied, by Dr. Spiegelberg in 1903. He found there the
names of Heker Qq] © an d Khnem-Maat-Ra-setep-en-
Khnemu, (Ô ^^ ^ an<^ a num ^ er °f vot i ve texts
Mau-hes ^2^-
to the god Miysis,
^ or ,
5^^ |
|1
;
499
VII.— CAIRO TO DAMIETTA vi& MANSCJRAH.

In addition to the sites of archaeological interest in the
Delta which have been mentioned in the descriptions of the
routes to Cairo from Alexandria and Port Safid respectively,
there are several to which visits may be paid by those who can
spare the time and are not averse from long donkey rides
and journeys in boats across portions of Lake Menzalah.
—
Among such sites may be mentioned (i) Tell al-YahMiyah
(2) Khata‘anah ; (3) San ; (4) Nabeshah ; (5) Tamai al-Amdid ;
(6) Saft al-Hannah.
1. The ruins of Tell al = Yahudiyah lie near the modern
town of Shibin al-Kanatir, about 20 miles from Cairo. At this
place Rameses III built a small palace which contained a
chamber lined with beautifully glazed tiles ornamented with
of birds, animals, representatives of foreign
floral designs, figures
conquered tribes, etc. In the reign of Ptolemy VII, a young
Jew called Onias, the son of the high priest of the same name
who had been put to death by Antiochus, petitioned the king
to allow him to build a temple wherein the Jews could worship
God according to their own customs. Ptolemy’s answer
said to have run thus “:
— King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra
is
“ to Onias send greeting. We have heard the petition, wherein

“ thou desirest leave to be given to thee to purge that temple
“ which is fallen down at Leontopolis, in the Nomus of Helio-
“ polis, and which is named from the country Bubastis ; on
“ which account we cannot but wonder that it should be
“ pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a place so
“ unclean, and so full of sacred animals. But since thou
“ sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago (see
19), we give thee leave to do it, if it may be
“ chapter xix,
“ done according to thy law, and so that we may not appear
“ to have at all offended God therein.” Onias then built a
tower 60 feet high, with a burnt brick girdle wall, and with
gates of stone ; the altar was like that at Jerusalem, and over
it hung, by a gold chain, a lamp which was beaten out of a
piece of gold. The place was called “ Onion ” by the Jews,

and “ Scenae Veteranorum ” by the Romans, and it appears to
have been built on the site of the temple of Ra, which lay to
the north of Heliopolis. It was looted by Lupus, Governor of
Alexandria in the reign of Vespasian, and was destroyed by
his successor Paulinus, 343 years after it had been founded.
2 1 2
;
5 °° TANIS, THE FIELD OF ZOAN.
The site was exhaustively excavated by Emil Brugsch Pasha,

who obtained from it some valuable antiquities, which are now
in the Egyptian Museum and in the British Museum. A
plan of the site was published by Prof. Hayter Lewis in 1882.
An examination of the ruins recently made has produced
little except fanciful theories.
2. Near Khata‘anah lie a number of mounds, several of
which were excavated by Professor Naville in 1885; these
mark the site of a large frontier town under the XHIth dynasty,
and the names of some of its kings were inscribed upon the
fragments and remains that were exhumed by him A Khata anah ;
lies to the north of Tell Fakus, which is reached by train from

Cairo via Benha and Zakazik.
3. Near San, i.e ., a little to the south of it, and about
25 miles north of Tell Fakus, lie the ruins of the ancient
city of Tanis, which was built on the arm of the Nile called
Tanitic. The town which the Greeks called Tanis and the Copts ,
TA-tteoUC or X<LHK, was named by the ancient Egyptians
°r
Tchdnt (which is accurately translated “ Field of Zoan,”f

1
in Psalm lxxviii. 12, 43) and Tchart
it was the capital of the fourteenth nome of Lower Egypt,
^ Khent-abt. The two determinatives indicate

•
riT
~rrr1V
1 1
that the place was situated in a swampy district, and that

foreigners dwelt there. The Arabs have adopted the shorter
name of the town, and call it San. Dr. H. Brugsch
endeavoured to show that Tanis represented the town of
Rameses, which was built by the Israelites, but his theory
has not been generally accepted, although there is no doubt
whatever that Tchar and Tanis are one and the same town.
The other names of Tanis given by Dr. Brugsch in his great
Dictionnaire Geograpliique are “ Mesen, Mesen of the North,
* See the Seventh Me?noir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, London,
1890, p. 56, col. 2 ; also Fourth Memoir, London, 1887, p. 21 ff.
a place of great importance by the
j Zoan must have been considered
Hebrews, for they date the founding of Hebron by it (Numbers, xiii, 22),
and Isaiah, describing the future calamities of Egypt, says, “ Surely the
princes of Zoan are fools” (Isaiah xix, 11).
TANIS, THE FIELD OF ZOAN.
Teb of the North, and Behutet of the North.” Tanis was

situated on the right or east bank of the Tanitic branch
of the Nile, about 30 miles nearly due west of the ancient
Pelusium ; and as it was near the north-east frontier of Egypt,
it was always one of the towns which formed the object of the
first attack of the so-called Hyksos, Syrians, Assyrians, Greeks,
Arabs, and Turks. The excavations which have been made

in the ruins round about San by Mariette and Petrie prove
that Tanis must have been one of the largest and most impor-
tant cities in the Delta. The earliest monuments found here
date from the time of Pepi I, YIth dynasty, about 3233 b.c. ;
the next oldest are the black granite statues of Usertsen I
and Amenemhat II, a sandstone statue of Usertsen II, an
inscribed granite fragment of Usertsen III, and two statues of
Sebek-hetep III. Following these come the most interesting
black granite sphinxes, which are usually said to be the work
of the so-called Hyksos, but which are, in the writer’s opinion,
older than the period when these people ruled over Lower
Egypt. The cartouches inscribed upon them only prove that
many kings were anxious to have their names added to these
monuments. The greatest builder at Tanis was Rameses II,
who erected a temple with pylons, colossal statues, obelisks,
and sphinxes. Pasebkhanu, Shashanq I, and Shashanq III
repaired and added to the buildings in Tanis, and they
took the opportunity of usurping sphinxes, obelisks, &c.,
which had been set up by earlier kings. Traces of
such usurpations are found everywhere at San. The
inscription upon it, which is of the time of Rameses II, is
dated in the four hundredth year of a Hyksos king named
“ Aa-pehti-Set, ”
son of the Sun, Nub-Set
,
which appears to prove that this king
reigned 400 years before the time of Rameses II.

The last native king of Egypt whose name is mentioned
at Tanis is Nectanebus II, and after him come the Ptolemies.
The stele, commonly called the Decree of Canopus, which
was set up in the ninth year of Ptolemy III, Euergetes I
(238 b.c.), was found here. Here, too, was found in the
eastern portion of the ruins of the great temple, near the
shrine, the famous Stele of Four Hundred Years.
The stele was set up in honour of the god Set, by an official
called Seti, who appears to have flourished in the reign of
S°2 THMUIS—MENDES.
Rameses II. Instead of being dated in the day and month

and year of Rameses II in which it was set up, it is dated in
the 400th year of the Hyksos king Nubti, a very remark-
able fact. After Mariette had read and copied the text he
reburied the stele in the place where he had found it.
Under the Roman Empire Tanis still held a high position
among the towns of the Delta, and the Egyptians considered
itof sufficient importance to make it an episcopal see. In the
listof the bishops who were present at the Council of Chalcedon
(a.d. 451), the name of Apollonius, Bishop of Tanis, is found.
Tanis must not be confounded with Tennis, the seaport town
which grew and increased in importance as Tanis declined ;
and it is difficult to understand why Tanis should have
dwindled away, considering that Arab writers have described
its climate as being most salubrious, and its winter like summer.
Water was said to flow there at all times, and the inhabitants
could water their gardens at their will no place in all Egypt,
;
save the Fayyum, could be compared with it for fertility, and

for the beauty of its gardens and vines. After the sixth century
of our era the sea invaded a large portion of the territory around
Tanis, and it went on encroaching each year little by little, until
all its villages were submerged. The inhabitants removed their
dead to Tennis, and established themselves there ; Tennis
was evacuated by its inhabitants a.d. 1192, and the town itself
was destroyed A.D. 1226.
4. About half-way between San and As-Salakiyah is Tell-
Nab£shah, which marks the site of a fortified frontier town
under Rameses II, and no doubt formed one of the chain of
fortresses which he built across the north-east border of the
Delta. The town existed in the XXVIth dynasty, for some of
the kings of that dynasty repaired the temple of the local
goddess. There is nothing of interest at Tell-Nabeshah.
5. Near Sinballawen, which is on the main line between
Zakazik and Manshrah, is the mound which the Arabs call
Tamai aDAmdid, and which marks the site of the classical
Thmuis. Close by is another mound, to which ancient Arab
writers gave the name of Al = Mandid ; this marks the site
of Mendes. In, or a little before, the Ptolemaic Period
Thmuis and Mendes were incorporated, probably because the
inhabitants of both places worshipped the ram. In the fourth
century of our era Thmuis was a flourishing town, and
possessed its own magistrates, and was exempt from the
jurisdiction of the Governor of Alexandria. It was also an
SAFT AL-HENNAH. 503
episcopal see, and Serapion, one of its bishops, is mentioned
by Herakleanus. The importance of Thmuis-Mendes is

proved by the fact that Amasis II dedicated to the Ram-god
a shrine, which was 23 feet high, and Ptolemy II restored the
sanctuary, and took part in the ancient ceremonies which were
performed in that city at the installation of a new Ram. The
statues of Ptolemy II and his wife Arsinoe were placed near
the Ram in the procession, and were carried through the
streets followed by the chief men of the city, and by crowds
of rejoicing citizens. A few Egyptian monuments are still to
be seen at this place. The name Tamai al-Amdid represents
the two names Thmuis and Mendes. Tamai = Thmuis, and
Amdid is a corruption of Mendes, which is the Greek form of
the Egyptian name There are a
great many mounds in this district which conceal remains of
ancient Egyptian buildings, and there is no doubt that under
the XIXth dynasty the whole region was full of small towns,
many of which were strongly built and fortified, so that they
might resist the attacks of the nomad tribes from the Eastern
Desert and Syria. It seems, however, that they had do be
built on mounds artificially constructed, the object being to
keep them above the waters of the inundation. The saturated
soil and the storms of war and conquest do away with any hope
that many fragile objects or papyri will be found among the
ruins.
6. Close to the railway which joins Zakazik and Abfi
Hammad, and a little to the south of it, is Saft al = Hannah,
which was explored by Professor Naville in 1884; it marks the
site of a large, ancient Egyptian town, in which Rameses II
built a fine temple, for a colossal statue of this king in black
granite was found in a cornfield near the village. Some 40 or
50 years ago the fellakin discovered a rectangular, monolithic
shrine, measuring 7 feet by 6 feet 9 inches by 6 feet, covered
inside and out with beautifully executed inscriptions and scenes.
The local Pasha, who thought that gold was hidden inside it,
promptly had it broken in pieces, two of which were carried to
his farm, and the remainder were used for building the bridges
of Saft and Tahra Hamad ! The shrine was dedicated to the
Ram-god and the Hawk-god of the East by Nectanebus II,
the last native king of Egypt, about 360 b.c. A restoration of
the sanctuary of these gods was made by Ptolemy II, probably
about 100 years later.
;
S°4 DAMIETTA.
7. West of the railway which runs from Mansurah to Mit

Samannfid are the remains of a town which the Arabs call
Behbit al = Hagar; these mark the site of an ancient
Egyptian town which was either founded or rebuilt by
Nectanebus II. At this place stood a temple of Isis, which
was begun by Nectanebus II, and finished by Ptolemy II.
The Egyptians called the town Pa-Hebet, from which the first
part of the modern name is derived.
The who is visiting places
traveller in the Delta which are
off the beaten track should not fail Damietta and
to include
Manshrah though nothing much is known of
in his route, for
the early history of these towns, each possesses an interest
peculiar to itself, and there are no places quite like them in the
Delta. Damietta, the Dumyat of the Arabs, the Tamiati of
the Copts, and the Thamiatis of the Greeks, is a flourishing town
containing 29,354 inhabitants; it stands on the east bank of
the Phatnitic arm of the Nile (now called the Damietta branch),
is about no miles from Cairo, and from four to six miles from
the sea. A seaport town of considerable size must have existed

here when ihe Pharaohs were reigning, and under the Ptolemies
and Romans it was, no doubt, a position of great importance ;
the old town probably stood nearer the sea than the modern one.
Brugsch identified it with the Het-nebset, ° /vwwn >
Q Jj [1 ^
of the texts, but this identification is doubtful, and that
town is probably that which the Arabs called Banabus.
Damietta formed a port of call for many fleets, and the harbour
was, as now, generally filled with sailing craft of ail kinds. In
the Middle Ages it did a large trade in a kind of linen stuff
”
called, from the name of the place, “ dimity ” (just as “damask
is called after the name of Damascus), oil, coffee, dates,
fish, etc. It was attacked in 1169 by the King of Jerusalem,
who set up siege-towers and mangonels against it, but Saladin
defended it ably, a storm wrecked many of the ships of the
invaders, and they were obliged to return to Palestine. In
1218 was besieged by John of Brienne in April of that year,
it
and on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24th, it capitulated

but after a two days’ battle the Crusaders were beaten, on
August 31st they were obliged to evacuate Damietta, and on
September 7 th the whole of the Crusading army left Egypt in
shame. In June, 1249, Louis IX landed at Damietta, the
garrison fled, and the French king occupied it without striking
a blow. The French made the same mistakes as John of
MANSURAH. 5°5
Brienne, they were defeated in many fights, their ships were

captured, and at length Louis and his army were held at
ransom for 10,000,000 francs ; a large proportion of the
ransom was paid, and the remnant of the force of the Crusaders
sailed for Acca in November, having utterly failed to break the
Arab power in Egypt. Damietta was then destroyed, and a
new town was built further inland. The French took possession
of Damietta in 1798, and gained a victory over the Turks in
the following year ; they were, however,expelled soon after
by the British under Sir Sydney Smith. Under the rule of
Muhammad ‘Ali some attempt was made to increase the com-
mercial prosperity of the town, but the good effect was not
permanent ; in recent years the town has suffered greatly
through the growth and development of Port Safid.
Mansurah.
British Consular Agent, F. T. Murdoch.
Mansurah, the u citv of victory/' is about 95 miles from

Cairo, and has a population of 40,279 inhabitants, the principal
occupations of which are connected with the cotton trade.
There are numerous large manufactories here where cotton is
worked and oil is pressed from the seeds, and the town is a
thriving one. Several of the streets are wide, and the houses
are large and well built, according to the French pattern. The
mosque is well worth a visit, for several of the pillars of its
arches were taken from buildings which were probably Christian,
and the pulpit is of carved woodwork. The town stands on
the right or east bank of the Phatnitic (Damietta) branch of
the Nile, which is here both broad and deep. Mansurah is not
older than the time of the Crusaders, and it was to this place
that the Egyptians fled when Louis IX of France seized
Damietta. During this unfortunate crusade Louis and his
three armies charged right through the Muslim camp into
Mansfirah, and out on the other side ; but here he was attacked
by 10,000 Mamlfiks, and Robert, Count of Artois, and 300 of
his men, and nearly all the Templars, and William Longsword
and nearly all the English, were slain. The Muslims counted
1,500 knights and nobles among the dead.
S°6
VIII.— CAIRO TO SIWAH, OR THE OASIS OF

JUPITER AMMON.
A journey to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon may be made
either from Cairo or Alexandria, but the shorter route is from
Cairo via the Oasisffif Garah. If the traveller decides to start
from Alexandria, two ways are open to him he may journey
:
along the sea-coast from Alexandria to Baralum, the Paraetonium

of classical writers, and then march southwards to Siwah, that is
to say, to the Oasis, or, he may travel still further along the
sea-coast until he reaches Katabathmus Major, the modern
‘Akabat al-Kabir, when, marching southwards, he will reach
Siwah without difficulty. In each case the length of time
required for the journey varies between 18 and 20 days; it is
impossible to make a more definite statement, for so much
depends upon the individual traveller and his mounts. Apart
from this, sandstorms are more frequent and intense at some
seasons of the year than others, and caravans, small or great,
may be delayed for days at a time by them. If the traveller
prefers to start from Cairo, he must set out from the neighbour-
hood of Gizah, and follow the old Pilgrim Route, which runs
in a north-west direction, until he arrives at the south-east end
of the Wadi Natrun or “Natron Valley.” From this point he
travels almost due west for about 15 days, when Siwah is
reached.
The ancient Egyptians called the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon
by the name of Sekhet-Amit, an<^
j)j| Q ^ (|(|^
the Arabic name is Siwah. Of the early history of the Oasis
nothing is known. Herodotus tells us (iii, 25) that when
Cambyses reached Thebes he sent 50,000 men to reduce the
inhabitants of this Oasis to slavery, and to burn their temple.
It is said that this force marched for several days from Thebes,
and reached the Islands of the Blessed, i.e., the Oases of
Khargah and Dakhlah, but that having attempted to proceed
to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, when they were about half
way, “ as they were taking dinner a strong and vehement south
“ wind blew, and carrying with it heaps of sand, covered them
“ over, and in this manner they disappeared.” Alexander the
Great visited the Oasis, and on his way the Cyrenaeans brought
him gifts ; the god worshipped there was Amen. The object
;
OASIS OF JUPITER AMMON. 507
worshipped was made of emerald, surrounded by precious

stones, and was, as Prof. Naville has shown, set in the circular
hollow of a shield-shaped object which was placed in a boat.
Amen saluted Alexander, and acknowledged him as his son
this was the whole point of the visit. According to Quintus
Curtius (iv, 7) the track to the Oasis was barely practicable
to a small band lightly equipped. Water, from springs or
from the clouds, is rarely afforded. The solar heat is in-
tolerable ; the atmosphere is a glowing vapour ; a desolate
expanse of sand burns the feet. The traveller has to struggle
with a deep layer of loose sharp dust, which, giving way to the
tread and sticking to the flesh, renders stepping painful.
Alexander, however, was stimulated by a powerful desire to
present himself before “Jupiter, whom, dissatisfied with a
mortal origin, he believed to have been his father ; or, he
designed that others should believe it.” As the king was
approaching, the senior priest saluted him as “ son,” affirming
that his father Jupiter bestowed that title. Alexander replied
that he accepted and enquired whether his father had
it,
destined him to the empire of the globe. The priest replied

that “ he should govern the whole earth.” He then asked
whether all who conspired and killed his father had been
punished, and the answer was that “the crime of no one
“could hurt the memory of his father, and that all the
“ murderers of Philip had suffered punishment, and that
“ Alexander should continue to be invincible till he joined the
“ assembly of the gods.” Alexander’s friends then asked the
god if they were to pay divine honours to their king, and he
replied that “it was agreeable to Jupiter that they should
“ render to their victorious king the honours of divinity.”
The Oasis is about six miles long, and from a quarter of a
mile to four or five miles wide ; it possesses hot springs and
a sulphur mine, and the Fountain of the Sun (18 feet deep),
and about 150 springs. It contains 300,000 olive and palm
trees, and in 1907 its inhabitants were 3,884. The hill called
Gebel Muta is full of ancient tombs, which have never been
properly examined. The principal towns of the Oasis are
Siwah and Akermi, each being in the possession of a powerful
tribe ; these two tribes are often at war, but hostilities are
not carried so far as formerly, when the Oasis was independent
of Egypt. In the town of Akermi apparently was situated
the Egyptian fortress which is described by Diodorus, and
the temple which belonged to it stood on the site now
S 08
1
THE NATRON VALLEY.
occupied by the village of Umm

al-Bedah. In the latter place
Cailliaud and Minutoli found the remains of a sanctuary,
with many lines of hieroglyphic writing, and close by were
discovered reliefs, with figures of the gods, and the ordinary
descriptions of the gifts which they gave to the king accom-
panied them. The size of the reliefs suggested that the
temple was one of considerable importance, and it is probable
that the Oasis was fortified at the end of the XIXth dynasty,
when the Libyans began to occupy the outlying lands of the
Western Delta. The remains which have been found in
various parts of the Oasis prove beyond a doubt that the
occupation of the place by the Egyptians was a very effective one.
The advantage of visiting the Oasis of Siwah from Cairo is
that, either going or returning, the traveller can pay a visit to
the Monasteries in the Wadi Natrun, or Natron Valley.*
Those who do not wish to see more of the desert than they
can help, and who only care to visit the Monasteries, had
better go by train from Cairo to Al-Wardan or Beni Salamah,
and then cross the desert to the Natron Valley. The Natron
Valley obtains its name from the muriate of soda t which has
always been obtained there in large quantities ; the Egyptians
Mim-L
called the salt lies men. /WWW ,
and the classical writers
O o o
“ natron.” According to Strabo (xvii, 1, 23), this was produced
by two lakes, but other writers give the number of lakes as six,
and some enumerate eight ; the old inhabitants of the Natron
Valley worshipped Serapis, and Strabo says they were the only
people in Egypt who sacrificed the sheep. The length of the
Natron Valley is about 20 miles, and near the middle of it
was the town, commonly called Scete, where the Christian
monks built a large settlement ; Scete is said to have been one
and a half day’s journey from Lake Mareotis. Ecclesiastical
writers distinguish carefully between the different parts of the
Natron Valley, thus there was the town of Nitria, the town of
Scythia (Scete), Petra, the Cells and the Ladder (#cX/pag).
At the end of the first half of the fourth century Christian
recluses began to assemble there, and, led by Macarius the
Egyptian, they emulated the lives of Anthony the Great,
and other early ascetics. Some 5,000 monks lived there, and
* The latest description of the Wadi Natrun is by the Hon. N. Charles
Rothschild and the Hon. Francis Henley ; see W. E. de Winton in
Novitates Zoologicae , Vol. X, August, 1903.
+ Also sulphate of soda, carbonate of soda, chloride of sodium, etc.
—
LIBRARIES OF THE NATRON VALLEY. 5°9
there were 600 anchorites in the desert near ; there were seven
bakeries there, a church, and a guest house or khan where ,
doctors practised. The monks fasted all the week, went to

church on Saturday evening and Sunday, and ate a meal on
the latter day, and drank water. They maintained themselves
by the weaving of mats, which, incidentally, gave their hands
something to do, and yet permitted them to think of their
sins. The place called the Ladder was 18 miles from
water ; the Cells were 10 miles from Nitria and four from
the church. The buildings which may now be seen in the
Natron Valley are :
The Monastery of Macariuscontains three churches,

and two or three chapels the saint is said to be buried in
;
this Monastery. About 10 miles to the west is the

Monastery of Anba Bishai, and in the chapel dedicated
to the Virgin the saint is said to be buried. Alittle further
to the west is the Syrian Monastery, or Der Suryani, which

was built by John the Dwarf in the reign of Constantine, the son
of the Empress Helena, who, tradition asserts, found the True
Cross ; it was formerly in a very flourishing condition, and in
the fifth and sixth centuries possessed a very valuable library.
It contains three churches, the largest and finest being
dedicated to the Virgin. The Monastery of Baramus
lies six or eight miles further to the west, and also contains a
church dedicated to the Virgin. The few monks who live
in these monasteries are poor, but their courtesy and hospitality
are well known ; their possessions are few, and, though they
may not equal Macarius in their ascetic strenuousness, no one
will deny that their lives are sufficiently hard, and that they are
dead to the world. The Natron Valley has been the resort of
ascetic Christians from the earliest times, for Frontonius took
up his abode there in the second century ; Habib, the Arab,
the friend of the Prophet, also withdrew there in troublous
times. In the seventh century the monks there numbered
3,500. In modern times the Valley has been visited by
Egidius Lochiensis in 1633, who saw 8,000 MSS. there ;
Wansleb in 1672 and 1673, who saw three or four chests
full of MSS.; Huntingdon in 1678 and 1679; Gabriel Eva
in 1706, who saw a cellar full of MSS.; J. E. Assemani in
1707, who bought some MSS., which came to the Vatican;
J. S.
Assemani in 1715 (with Claude Sicard) ; Granger in
1730; Sonnini in 1778; Andreossi in 1799, who brought
away some MSS. with him. In 1828 Lord Prudhoe went to
510 LIBRARIES OF THE NATRON VALLEY.
the Natron Valley, and acquired a number of Coptic MSS.

from the Monastery of Baramfts ; in 1837 the Hon. R. Curzon
also obtained several vellum MSS. at the monasteries, and in
1838 the Rev. H. Tattam purchased 49 Syriac MSS., which
he sold to the Trustees of the British Museum. The same
year the Trustees of the British Museum sent Mr. Tattam to
Egypt to obtain the MSS. which were still there, and of these
he was so fortunate as to secure about 314, which arrived at
the British Museum in 1843. I n 1845 M. A. Pacho (not the
traveller Pacho, who committed suicide on January 26th, 1829),
went and lived with the monks for six weeks, and in the end
succeeded in obtaining the remainder of the MSS., about 190
in number ; 172 of these came to the British Museum in 1847,
10 were sold to the Trustees in 1851, and M. Pacho kept
back and sold several to the Imperial Public Library in
St. Petersburg in 1852. All these MSS. really came from the
Convent of St. Mary Deipara (Der Suryani), and the import-
ance of the Library cannot be over-estimated, for it has
supplied us with some of the oldest dated books in existence,
has given us the Syriac Bible in several versions, the Epistles
of Ignatius, the works attributed to Clement, Patristic litera-
ture of all kinds, and a considerable number of native Syrian
works, most of which were unknown prior to the discovery
of the Library. As we are told that the Natron Valley
held about 100 monasteries during the sixth and seventh
centuries, it is not difficult to imagine what literary treasures
their Libraries must have contained. At the present time
there are no MSS. of importance in the Natron Valley, and
only those who are interested in archaeology are recommended
to visit it. The reader who is interested in the history of the
discovery of the MSS. should read Visits to Monasteries in
the Levant, by the Hon. R. Curzon, 5th ed. 1865, p. 86,^*;
an article by Cureton in the Quarterly Review No. CLIII, ,
” kept by Miss Platt,

p. 51 ; and the privately printed “ Journal
who accompanied her stepfather, the Rev. H, Tattam, on his
journey in search of MSS. in 1839.
5 11
IX.— THE 0A5E5.

To the west of the Nile, in the Great Libyan Desert, at
various distances from the river, are a number of fertile tracts
of land, with trees, wells, etc., which have been inhabited from
time immemorial. To such a place the ancient Egyptians gave
the name of Uahet ,
whence the Copts derived their
word and the Arabs Al-Wdh and western nations

,
the word “ oasis.” The exact meaning of the Egyptian word is

unknown, but it no doubt was intended to convey the idea of
the limited area which could be irrigated by the natural springs
or wells which existed in it. The principal Oases in the
western desert are (i:
) —
The Oasis of Siwah, or Jupiter Ammon.
(2) The Oasis of Bahariyah. (3) The Oasis of Farafrah. (4) The
Oasis of Dakhlah. (5) The Oasis of Al-Khargah. (6) The
Oasis of Kurkftr. (7) The Oasis of Salimah.
The Oasis of Siwah may be reached without difficulty from
Cairo or Alexandria ; both routes have already been described
(see p. 506). It may be reached in 12 days by camel from
Damanhhr.
The Oasis of Bahariyah, i.e., the Northern Oasis, is
thought by some to represent the “ Little Oasis,” or the
“ Second Oasis ” of classical writers. This Oasis lies between
0
the parallels 27 48' and 28° 30' of north latitude, and between
0
the meridians 28° 35' and 29 10' east of Greenwich, about
no miles to the west of the Nile, and 202 miles from the
Oasis of Siwah. It was visited by Belzoni, who arrived there on
May 26th, 1819, and stayed eleven days; by Cailliaud and
Letorzec, who stayed there six weeks in 1820 by Pacho and
;
Muller in 1823-24 by Wilkinson in 1825 by Rohlfs in 1874;

; ;
by Aschenson, who found there the remains of temples, one

being a temple of Thothmes II, in 1876 by Captain H. G. ;
Lyons, R.E., in 1894 by Dr. Steindorff in 1900

;
and by ;
Messrs. Ball and Beadnell in 1902. This Oasis is really a large,

natural excavation in the Libyan desert plateau (Ball and
Beadnell, Baharia Oasis Cairo, 1903, p. 37).
,
Its greatest
length is 80 miles, and its greatest width 25 miles. In 1897
it contained apricot trees 4,863, olive trees 5,370, palms
:
93,000 three-fourths of the dates grown are exported.

;
It is
situated to the north of Farafrah, and is easily reached in four
5 12 THE OASES.
or five days starting from Al-Madinah in the Fayyum. The

route runs through Rayan, and travelling in a south-westerly
9
direction, the Kasr, or “ Fort,” will be found without difficulty.

At Sabu, Hez, and elsewhere, Cailliaud saw ruins of the Roman
and Christian (Coptic) Periods, but most of these have now
disappeared. Portions of two temples of the XXVIth dynasty
are still visible. Several of the villages on the Oasis were at
one time occupied by Copts, a fact proved by the ruins of
their churches which have been described by various travellers.
The population in 1907 was 6,773. The Arabic name seems
to be a translation of the old Egyptian name for this Oasis,
Uahet MEHT
Q °<=>
\ “
North”;
viz., ’
•
^ 1 ^ ^ V\ Oasis of the '
but on the other hand there seems to be some reason for

believing that at one time this name referred to the Oasis of
Dakhlah.
0
The Oasis of Farafrah, 27 3' 30" north latitude, and
28° 15" east longtitude, lies a little to the south of Bahariyah,
o'
and rather less than halfway between it and Dakhlah. The
Egyptians called it Ta-Ahet, the “ land of
Cattle,” and it possessed some importance as a halting place

between Siwah and Dakhlah and Bahariyah and Dakhlah. This
Oasis can be reached from Minya on the Nile in eight days on a
good camel. It lies about 203 miles to the west of Asyht. It was
visited by Rohlfs, Zittel, and Jordan in 1874. This Oasis contains
about 29 springs, which are enumerated by Beadnell ( Farafra
Oasis Cairo, 1901, p. 10).
,
Wheat, barley, dhura rice, dates, ,
olives, and onions are grown, but the crops barely suffice for the
wants of the people. The population in 1907 was 632, i.e ., 306
males and 326 females. Farafrah is the healthiest of the Oases.
The amount of cultivated land in this Oasis is very small, and it
seems impossible that it can ever have been a flourishing place
through its own resources. On the north are numbers of
Muhammadan graves, and on the east are several rock-hewn
tombs ; the latter were probably made for Roman travellers,
but may have been usurped by Christian refugees or monks.
To the west of Farafrah is the recently discovered Oasis of
Ad = Dailah, with two water holes or springs ; that on the east
is called Bir Labayyad, and that on the west ‘Ain ad-Dailah.
The Oasis of Dakhlah lies to the south-east of Farafrah,

about four days’ journey from that Oasis, and four days’ journey
THE OASES. 5 J 3
from Al-Khargah Oasis, and six or seven days’ journey from

Asyilt in Upper Egypt. It is 75 miles due west of Al-Khargah,
and about 203 miles due west of Armant, or Erment. It has
been visited by Drovetti, Edmonstone in 1819, Cailliaud in
1819, Rohlfs in 1874, and Captain H. G. Lyons in 1894.
Mr. Beadnell (.Dakhla Oasis Cairo, 1901, p. 12) describes its
,
position as “between the 25th and 26th parallels of lat. north,

to the west of long. 30° 15' east of Greenwich.” Dakhlah is
divided into two parts in the western part are Kasr Dakhlah,
:
Budkhulu, Mflshiah, Rashidah, Gadidayah, Kalamhn, Handaw,

Smint, Ma‘sarah, and Mut, the present capital, and in the
eastern part are Balat, Tanidah, Bashandi, Dumeriyah, and
Kamiilah. The revenue is Ê. 2,483, and is derived chiefly
from a tax* on the date palms, which are 196,172 in number.
The area of the low ground is about 97,617 acres.' The
entire water supply is derived from an underground bed of
sandstone. The weils bored by the Romans are about 420,
many of which are in woiking order ; the modern wells are 162
in number. The temperature at Kasr Dakhlah varies from
93 to 102 5 Fahrenheit. The Egyptian name of this Oasis was
Tches-Tcheset, \ The population in 1907
was 18,368. The capital of the Oasis is Al-Kasr, with

3,602 and some springs of sulphur and other
inhabitants,
waters. The principal ruins are those of Der al-Hagar,
which have nothing to do with a monastery, as the name
suggests, but with a temple of the Roman Period, which
was dedicated to Amen-Ra, or Horus of Behutet, by Titus and
otherRoman Emperors. Of the history of the Oasis in ancient
Egyptian times nothing is known, but the Romans kept an ala
of soldiers here, and we may assume that they had some good
reasons from a commercial point of view for doing so. This Oasis
no doubt afforded a home for large numbers of Christian recluses
and monks from the third to the fifth centuries of our era,
especially as the leaves of the palm trees would afford abundant
material from which they could weave mats and ropes for the
use of the caravans, and so earn a living. In recent years
Dakhlah has exported a large quantity of dates each year, and
the date trade must always have formed the principal source of
income for its inhabitants. The name Dakhlah means “ Inner,”
as opposed to Khargah, the “ Outer ” Oasis.
* A full grown palm pays ij piastres per annum, and each well
50 piastres per annum. 2 K
5i4 OASIS OF KHARGAH.
Until the year 1908 a journey to Khargah Oasis from, the

nearest point on the Nile required about a fortnight ; but now,
thanks to the Western Oases Railway (2 feet 6 inch gauge), which
was built by the Corporation of Western Egypt, Limited, and has
now been acquired by the Egyptian Government, the traveller
can reach Khargah from Cairo in about 20 hours. This
Oasis is and most interesting of all the Oases in
the largest
Egyptian territory, and should certainly be visited by all who
can spare the time. The traveller may visit the Oasis any
time between the middle of December and the beginning of
March ; he should at all events be there before the Khamasin

winds begin to blow. In the winter months the air is clear
and bracing, but the nights are cold, as in the Sudan ; the sky
is cloudless and the days are hot. As there is much shallow
water in the low-lying lands, and the air is hot and steamy
above them, a particularly vicious species of mosquito thrives
swamps and swarms in every part of the Oasis, especially
in the
when the wind blows from the south. Mosquito curtains
should be carried by, or provided for, the visitors, for fever
5
OASIS OF KHARGAH. 5 1
invariably follows a series of mosquito bites. Quinine and

carbolic acid can be obtained at the dispensary in Khargah
village. The journey is made in a comfortable carriage with
a double roof and provided with cane arm-chairs and racks on
which light articles, books, field-glasses, hats, small hand-bags,
etc., may be placed ;
at one end lavatory accommodation is
found, and a good supply of fresh water is carried in large
porous zirs, or vessels which are familiar to every traveller in
Egypt. Besides the ordinary glass windows, each window
frame is fitted with a wire dust screen and a window of tinted
blue glass, a luxury which is greatly appreciated by those whose
eyes have suffered from the merciless glare of the steely blue
sky, and the blinding light and heat reflected from white rocks
and scorching sand. The little train is hauled by a powerful
though small locomotive, fitted with all the improvements
which experience in the Sfidan has suggested to railway
engineers, and both engine and train are fitted with strong
air brakes. The need for these will be seen at once when the
traveller begins to descend into the Oasis from the rocky
plateau which separates it from the Nile. The railway tele-
graph runs by the line, and in the event of a breakdown on
the plateau communication can be made with headquarters at
either end of the railway. Aluncheon basket is provided
at ordinary prices, but in a short time restaurant cars will
probably be attached to each train, and it will be unnecessary
to purchase one before starting.
The Western Oases Railway leaves the main line at
Khargah Junction (Muwaslat al-Khargah), a new station
which has been built to the north of Farshfit, and passing over
a strong timber bridge runs along the top of an embankment,
which divides two great irrigation basins, to Al = Kar‘ah
which stands on the edge of the desert. Here are a
set of offices of Oasis Railway Administration, and a number

of small, clean houses, wherein the traveller can find board
and lodging. Everything is very clean. Soon after leaving the
cultivated land of the Nile Valley the railway proceeds in a
south-westerly direction up the Wadi Samhud, at the end of
which it reaches the plateau. The geologist will find much to
interest him as he passes up from the valley to the plateau.
It then continues its course in the same direction to AI-
Tundubah, 57 miles from Khargah Junction. Here there
is a deep shaft, which at one time appears to have been a well.
2 k 2
5 l6 OASIS OF KHARGAH.
The railway then follows the old Rafftf road until it reaches
Rafuf, about 28 miles from Khargah, when it begins its
descent into the Oasis. Across the plateau not a trace of
vegetation is to be seen, and there is no sign of life of any
kind ; the plain is strewn with large circular boulders, which
are all that remain of the layers of stone which have dis-
appeared. The writer noticed one solitary small bird perched
on a rock about halfway across, but it may have travelled with
us on the roof of the carriage. Passing down the pass the
scenery became wild and picturesque, though in places it was
severe, if not grim and savage. From the bottom of the pass
the line runs across the plain to Maharik, which is about
Gateway of the temple of Darius I at Khargah.
ico miles from the Nile, and then on to the headquarters of

the Corporation of Western Egypt, Limited, at Makanat,
which lies due south of Maharik. Here also are small clean
houses for the use of travellers. Afew miles further on, at a
place quite close to the temple of Darius, are a few wooden
houses for the use of travellers, a kitchen and mess room, etc.,
and the line comes to an end about 3 miles further to the south,
about 1^ miles from the village of Khargah. On looking
around the traveller will see that he is standing in a de-
pression, the north and east sides of which are walls of stone
which rise to a height of from 600 to 1,000 feet. To the west
OASIS OF KHARGAH. 5 r 7
are low hills, and near them and to the south are the remark-
able sand dunes, which have evoked the interest and curiosity
of every traveller. Their appearance suggests the work of man,
but their shapes and curves baffle all attempts to describe them
with exactness. Looking towards Khargah village a number
of shekhs’ tombs are seen, and beyond these are groves of
palms which stand near pools and channels of living water.
The contrast between the green colour of the palm leaves and
of the vegetation which clusters about them is very striking,
and though for beauty the Oasis scenery is not to be compared
with that of the Nile, it nevertheless possesses a charm of its
own which grows on the beholder, and makes him feel that he
did well to visit Khargah.
History.— The Oases have belonged to Egypt from time
immemorial, and classical writers have always assigned them to
Egypt. —
Strabo mentions three Siwah, one to the west of
Khargah, and, Khargah. The hieroglyphic and Greek inscrip-
tions of Khargah prove that both the Ptolemies and the Romans
included them in their Empire. Arab writers also unanimously
regard the Oases as a province of Egypt. The region of the
Oases is called in Egyptian Uah g
and each Oasis
had its special name; Khargah was the “Southern
Oasis,-’ as distinguished from the Oasis in the north which

classical called Oasis Parva.
writers Khargah was certainly
inhabited in pre-dynastic times, and some writers assert that ...
men lived there in the Neolithic and even in the Palaeolithic

Period. It is tolerably Certain that great kings like Senefern
(IVth dynasty) made the Oases send him gifts, and Pepi I and 1
Pepi II (Vlth dynasty) had them in subjection. The stele of

the official Aquaa at Berlin proves that in th’e v reign -of
Usertsen I (Xllth dynasty) the Egyptians were masters of the
“Oasis dwellers ” Under the XVIIIth and

^ ^
j.
XIXth dynasties the Oases paid tribute regularly and did a

good trade in dates, wine, herbs, etc., and there was no doubt
an Egyptian governor, or official, in each Oasis. The Oases
have not yet been excavated, but when they arfe we shall
* The Coptic word for “oasis” is OT A.^6, and is the same as Uah
of the hieroglyphics ;
the Arabic word is wdh , and is derived from the old
Egyptian. “ Oasis” is a Graecized form of the same word.
OASIS OF KHARGAH,
(Hibis).
Hebt
of
city
the
in
Great
the
Darius
by
Hoskins.)
Amen-Ra
(From
to
dedicated
Temple
the
of
east
ihe
from
View
; -
OASIS OF KHARGAH. 5 T
9
probably find that they were governed by Egypt in exactly

the same way as the Sudan and Sinai. Darius the Great
(500 b.c.) understood the importance of Khargah, and built
a temple to Amen there, ruins of which exist at the present
day. The Ptolemies also built temples at various places in
the Oases, and the Romans followed their example, and
established halting places and dug wells on the plateau
between th<*n and the Nile. In the early centuries of the
Christian Era many Christians in Egypt were driven to flee
from persecution to Khargah,* where, according to an ancient
tradition preserved among the Ethiopians, St. Bartholomew
preached the Gospel. Khargah was a place of banishment,
and many dignitaries of state, both civil and ecclesiastical,
were deported thither. Nestorius was sent there in banish-
ment, but curiously enough was rescued by a company of the
Blemmyes from the Northern Sudan, who conveyed him back
to Egypt, where, however, he soon after died. With the
bishops and others who were banished to Khargah went many
well-to-do folk, and by the end of the IVth century there were
several monastic institutions there and churches, and the
Christians were to a certain extent allowed to worship God in
their own way. The size and importance of the Christian
settlement is proved by the fine, large, crude-brick tombs which
are still to be seen there on the hill to the west of the railway
line, about one mile to the north of the temple of Darius. In
the second half of the Vllth century Islam was brought to
the Oasis, but the Arabs allowed the halting places on the
plateau to fall into decay, and little by little Khargah became
cut off from Egypt.
The first modern traveller to visit Khargah was Poncet, who
left Asyut on October 2, 1698. He says : —
“ From that very Day we enter’d a frightful Desart. These
“ Desarts are extremely dangerous, because the Sands being moving
“are rais’d by the least Wind which darken the Air, and falling
“afterwards in Clouds, Passengers are often buried in them, or at
“ least lose the Route which they ought to keep. Arrived on the We
“ 6th of. October at Heloane ’Tis a pretty large Borough, and the last
“ that is under the Grand Signior’s Jurisdiction. There is a Garrison
“in it of 500 Janisaries and 300 Spahi's under the Command of an
“ Officer whom in that Country they call Kashif t Heloane is very .
“ pleasant, and answers fully its Name, which signifies a Country of

“Sweetness. Here are to be seen a great number of Gardens
* “ Al-Wah,”
The word used is AAPfh: i. e. ,
the Oasis,
t /.<?., Kdshif) plur. Kashafa .

520 OASIS OF KHARGAH.
ot
capitals
the
to
reach
to
used
which
Hoskins.)
sand
the
(From
showing
pillars.
Hebt,
of the
temple
the
of
interior
the
of
View
— ;
OASIS OF KHARGAH. 521
“ water’d with Brooks, and a World of Palm-trees, which preserve

“a continual Verdure. Coloquintida is to be found there, and all
“ the fields are fill’d with Senna, which grows upon a Shrub, about
‘‘three Foot High. This Drug which is so much Esteem’d in
“ Europe, is of no use in the Country hereabouts. The Inhabitants
“ of Heloane in their Illnesses, make only use of the Root of Ezula ,
“ which for a whole Night they infuse in Milk, and take the day
“ after, having first strain’d it thro’ a Sieve. This Medicine is very
“ Violent, but ’tis what they like and commend very much. The
“ Ezzda is a thick Tree, the Blossom of which is blue it grows into
;
“a sort of Ball, of an Oval Figure, full of Cotton, of which the

“People of that Country make pretty fine Cloth. We rested four
“ Days at Heloane to take in Water and Provisions for we were
;
“to pass thro’ a Desart, where there was neither Brook nor
“ Fountain. The Heat is so excessive, and the sands of these Desarts
“ so burning, that there is no marching barefoot, without having
“one’s Feet extremely swell’d. Nevertheless the Nights are Cold
“enough, which Occasions troublesome Distempers in those who
“ Travel thro’ that Country, unless they take great Precautions.”
(A voyage to ALthiopia made in the year 1698, 1699, and 1700, London,
1709.)
The next important travellers to Khargah were W. G. Browne
(1792-1798) and F. Cailliaud (1815-1818), who published
many drawings of the antiquities there. They were followed
by Drovetti (1818), Sir A. Edmondstone (1818), Wilkinson
(1835), Hoskins (1836), Schweinfurth (1874), Rohlfs (1875),
Jordan (1876), Brugsch (1878), etc. In 1894 Captain H. G.
Lyons published an account of his investigations at Khargah,
and, as Director of Surveys in Egypt, he caused a full scientific
investigation of the Oases to be made by Dr. J. Ball and Mr.
H. J. Llewellyn Beadnell. The results of their surveys have
been published in a series of volumes of the greatest importance,
and their works will remain standard authorities on the physical
history of the Oases for many years to come.
Geology. The depression which forms the Oasis of Khargah
is about 1
15 miles long, and from 12 to 50 miles wide. On
the east side are the hills called Jebel Ghannimah, and Jebel
Umm al-Ghannaim, and nearly halfway across are Jebel Ter
and Jebel Tarif. The greater part of the floor of the Oasis is
formed of sandstone, and above this come red shales, lime-
stone strata, grey shales, and chalk. According to Mr. Beadnell
the total thickness of the exposed strata is about 1,350 feet
the water-bearing sandstone is about 700 feet below the surface.
This authority states (An Egyptian Oasis p. 50) that the
,
Oases “are deep and extensive depressions or hollows cut

“down nearly to sea-level through the generally horizontal rocks
“ forming the Libyan Desert Plateaux, and appear to owe their
5 22 OASIS OF KHARGAH.
“ origin in great measure to the differential effects

of subaerial
“ denudation acting on rock masses of varying
hardness and
“ composition.” The height of Khargah village above the sea is
given by Jordan as 68 metres, by Cailliaud 104 and 118 metres,
by Ball 86 metres, and by Beadnell 58 metres.
—
The people. -The inhabitants of Khargah differ in many
respects from the Egyptians. They are of moderate height and
of less robust stature, and their features are not so strongly
marked. Their skin is lighter in colour, their faces more oval,
and eyes are softer, and larger, seemingly.
their They are
gentle in manner, courteous, and civil, but the men move
quietly, even languidly, a characteristic due probably to malaria,
which is very prevalent in the Oasis. They appear to be of
Berber origin, but the fighting characteristics of this race seem
to have disappeared. They suffer greatly from ophthalmia and
intermittent fever, and I gathered from the gentleman in charge
of the dispensary at Khargah that he had plenty of patients to
occupy his time. The bulk of the inhabitants are very poor,
but there are a few very rich men in Khargah, who own nearly
all the trees in the north of the Oasis. The chief occupation
is agriculture, and wheat, dhura (millet), rice, and fruit of
various kinds (in these days cotton also) are grown with great
success. Dates have always been the chief article of commerce,
and these are undoubtedly among the very best in the world.
Formerly the dates were sold once a year to the merchants of
Ar-Rif (/.£., Asyfit), who paid a portion of the price in clothes,
ornaments, spices, arms, beads, mirrors, perfumes, metal vessels,
nails, tools, etc., and the rest in hard cash, wherewith the taxes
were paid to the Government. Each palm above a certain age
pays a tax of 15 milliemes (3fd.) a year, and each 250 cubic
metres of water are taxed 1 millieme a year. Trades and
manufactures there are none, and the people have been content
to take what nature has given them, and neither to seek nor
expect anything else. Formerly they only received news of the
outside world once a year, in the autumn, when the Dar Fur
caravan from Asyut passed through Khargah on its way south,
by the famous Arba in, or Forty Days’ Road, which is about
1,000 miles long. Men usually wear only one loose woollen
garment and a white cotton cap the women also wear only one
;
garment, but the wives and daughters of the well-to-do wear many
ornaments. Many of the children resemble Italian children,
and some are pretty. The women make baskets of various
shapes and sizes with consummate skill, and the traveller will
find their palm-leaf fans and “fly-flappers ” very useful. It is

interesting to note that far less coffee is drunk than formerly,
and that tea is rapidly taking its place.
An underground street in the town of Khargah.
Population. — The Omdah Shekh Mustafa Hanadi informed

me that the population of Khargah was 5,322, of Btilak
1,033,
of Beris 1,517, and of Gannah 484 souls ; total 8,356 souls. In
1837 the total population of the Oasis was 4,300 (Hoskins,

p. 89). Religion. The inhabitants are Muslims, and, except
a Coptic clerk, there was not a Christian in the Oasis in April,
1909. Although they are followers of the Prophet, a great
many characteristics of the Christianity of earlier times have
been preserved in their manners and customs. Thus th.ey
baptize their children on the second day after birth, and they
bury their dead in a very simple manner. The marriage
ceremony is simple also. The man says to the woman “ I
have taken thee ” in the presence of a witness, and the marriage
is legal in every respect. Their chief festival of the year is
Tomb of a Shekh at Khargah.
celebrated at Easter, and for weeks before the natives 'Isave

their eggs and colour them purple with a solution of perman-
ganate of potash. The laws are the laws of their ancestors, and
the precedents always quoted are the acts of the “grandfather
of my father.” The fanaticism usually attributed to the
Muhammadan is not found in the Oasis.
Description of Khargah Oasis. The Oasis is divided—
into two parts by a waste of sand which lies across the middle
of it. The village of Khargah lies about a mile and a half from
the terminus of the railway. On the northern outskirt are
several Kubbas (pronounced Gubbas) or shekhs' tombs, among
them being the tombs of Atman, Mukullah, Yftsuf, Arif, Husen,

Hammad, Radwan, etc. Passing over several broad spaces
where the cattle usually tread out the corn, the village is
entered. The houses are
of crude brick, and vary
> greatly in size. The tops
of the walls are decorated
with palm leaves, which are
renewed at the great fes-
tival ofthe year. The
streets tortuous, and
are
when those which are
covered over are reached,
they become very narrow ;
many are cut through the
living rock. It is impossible
to see at all in some of them,
and a guide is absolutely
necessary. They are cool
in the hottest weather, and
were formerly used as hid-
ing places by the natives
when attacked by desert
Arabs. Much grain is
stored in the houses, and
the cattle can be hidden
there. The chief shop is a
curious place. Further on
is a square, with a post
office on one side, a small
barracks on another, and
the Government office of
the Muawin, or Governor,
on the third. A few
minutes brings the visitor
to the mosque, the prin-
cipal walls and minaret of
which are built of stone.
A few of the stones have
The Mosque at Khargah. Christian symbols upon
them, and must have come
from some Coptic building on one stone I saw Egyptian hiero-
;
glyphics. Portions of the building must be several hundreds

OASIS OF KHAKGAH,
p C\j
#
ISIS i
’
:•
Radii
;
BMCtI
ItJ Kasr
of
Temple
The
of years old. Close by is a house of entertainment, where tea

and eggs, fried on an earthenware platter, can be obtained.
There is nothing else to be seen in the village, but the gardens
and groves of palms form a lovely setting for this quaint old-
world place. Most of the openings in the ground from which
water rises are artificial, and such pipes as exist, except those
recently placed there by Europeans, are of wood. The water
is sometimes salt, sometimes it smells of sulphur, and some-
times it is sweet. The fields are usually triangular in shape.
Excursions. —About ten miles south of Khargah is
Gannah, near which stand the
ruins of a Ptolemaic temple, which
was dedicated to the triad Amen-
Ra,Mut and Khensu by Euergetes.
Here are two famous wells from
which water has been flowing for
many hundreds of years. The
temple is commonly known as
KasrGai’tah, or Kasr al-Guatah.
Six miles from Bulak is Kasr az =
Zayan, where stands a temple
built by Antoninus Pius (a.d.
142). It was dedicated to Amen,
the god of the city of Hebt, in
Egyptian ,
and to the
^
other gods who were worshipped
with him there, as stated in the
Greek inscription found in the
temple.* The ancient name of
the place is Tchonemyris, i.e f
,
the town of Khnemu-Ra. The

temple was surrounded by a brick
wall 230 feet long, 84 feet broad,
and 3 feet thick ; and the temple
itselfmeasured 44 J feet in length and 25 feet in width, and is
oriented to the south. In the reliefs Antoninus Pius is seen
making offerings to Khneri]u, Osiris, Isis, and Plorus.
In the southern half of the Oasis are the following villages :
Dakakin, a very pretty oasis village ; Beris, the chief village

* The temple and vestibule were repaired and renewed under Avidius
Heliodorus, governor of Egypt, Septimius Macro being Commander-in-chief,
and Plinius Capito general of the forces.
in the south part of the Oasis ;

and flaks, the last village in the
south, which divided into two parts, North Maks and South
is
Maks. About halfway between Beris and Maks is Dush al-

Kala‘a, w here are found the ruins of the famous temple of Dush,
T
or Kysis, to give the place the classical form of the Egyptian name
Kus. The temple stands on a hill, within a very thick wall in
which are built several staircases and galleries ; the total length
of the enclosure was about 250 feet. The temple w as built in
T
the 19th year of Trajan, i.e ., a.d. 116, when Marcus Rutilius
Rufus was Prefect of Egypt,* and measures 48 feet in length,
25 feet in width, and is oriented to the south. The vestibule
is 13 feet in length and 16 feet in breadth ; the portico next it
Remains of a building at Al-Kasr. (From Cailliaud.)
measures 27 feet in length and 18 feet in breadth, and has four,

columns. Three doorways in the north wall lead into two long
chambers and the sanctuary, which had a division across the
centre. The length of this portion of the temple is about
23 feet. Both the chambers and the sanctuary have arched roofs.
On the north wall are sculptures in which the Emperor Domi-
tian is represented making offerings to Horus. About 180 feet
* A correct copy of the Greek text of the inscription on the first pylon
is given by Dittenberger (ii, p. 421).
'
from the temple is the ruin of some brick building, probably

of a monastery ; about 60 feet
it is in length, and is remarkable
as containing a true Gothic arch. The age of the building is
unknown.
—
Antiquities of Khargah. The most important of these
is the famous temple at Hibis built by Darius I, 52 t b.c., and
added to by Darius II, and restored by Nektanebes, 378-360 b.c. ;
it isthe only Persian temple in Egypt. It is about 150 feet in

length and 60 feet in breadth, and has a forecourt and three
pylons ; its enclosure was about 500 feet long. It is oriented
almost due east and west. On the north side it is almost hidden
by thick groves of palm trees, and close by it runs a clear
stream of water ; on the south is a large pool of water, which
probably occupies the site once held by the sacred lake. On
the north side of the first pylon is a Greek inscription of 66
lines dated in the second year of the reign of the Emperor
Plan of the Temple of Kysis.
Galba (a.d. 69), and from it we learn that the inhabitants

had made complaints about the manner in which they were
ruled and had formulated their grievances in various petitions
to the authorities. The inscription is a decree in which redress
is promised to the people, and it lays down regulations con-
cerning taxation and orders that henceforth the persons of men

shall not be seized for debt, that men shall not be made tax-
collectors against their will, that no freeman shall be imprisoned,
that a man shall not be tried twice for the same offence, &c.
On the south side of the same pylon are Greek inscriptions,
one of which was cut in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius
1
Claudius. Between this pylon and the gateway are the

remains of an avenue of sphinxes, or rams, and the first and
second pylons were joined by a similar avenue, nearly 50 feet
long. The third pylon is 140 feet from the second, and on it
2 L
53 ° 6asis of kUargah:
are sculptures, in which Darius is represented

making offerings to Amen and other gods.
The vestibule is 25 feet from the third pylon,
and is about 52 feet long and 32 feet broad. jFEJI
“S #
At each side of the vestibule is a doorway. The
temple proper is about 150 feet long. The hall
contains 1 2 columns, the pronaos four columns, 6 #
and the sanctuary has likewise four columns,
and several small chambers on each side of it. O •
Strictly speaking, there are two sanctuaries in • •
this portion of the temple, a fact which is proved • •
by the breach in the sequence in the reliefs on
the walls. On the south side are the staircase,
which leads to the roof, and a crypt; on the north
side are the staircase and the chambers which
were dedicated to the worship of Osiris. There
f
are also three doorways, one in the hall, one in
the pronaos, and one in the sanctuary. The
portion of the temple here called the pronaos,
though it has been thought to be the chamber
in which offerings were presented, is peculiar to III
this temple. In it we find representations of
the king offering jars of wine to Amen and
other deities, and inscriptions containing a list
of offerings, a wonderful Hymn to Ra in 46
lines, and the Secret Ordinances of Amen,
which, it is stated, were copied from wooden
tablets. As the visitor passes into the sanctuary
he will see cut on the door jambs inscriptions
in the so-called “ enigmatic writing.” The
reliefs in the sanctuaries are ot’ great interest
mythologically, and it is clear that they deal
chiefly with the ceremonies which were per-
formed annually in Egypt in connection with
the festivals held to commemorate the death, I u
burial, and resurrection of Osiris. Many of the
gods have forms which appear to have been
unknown about 1500 b.c., but several of them
are cut upon the well-known “ Metternich
Stele.” The outside of the temple is covered
with poorly executed sculpture of little interest. I I
The scenes are presentations of offerings to the
gods. In some places the decorations are un- Plan of the Temple
of Hibis.
4
finished. the cartouches of the kings who restored

For
this temple the List of Kings
see on pp. 186-208.
Behind the temple is a small detached building, the use
of which is unknown, and to the south-west of the west
end is another detached building, which Hoskins thought
might have served as a dwelling for the priests. Compared
with the great temples of Karnak and Abydos, the temple of
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Figures of the gods and mythological scenes from the Sanctuary of

Osiris in the Temple of Darius at Khargah. (From Hoskins.)
Darius is inferior both as regards plan and execution. Still, it

is a remarkable building, and should be seen and carefully
examined by every lover of Egyptian architecture. It is unfair
to contrast it too closely with highly-finished buildings like the
Temple of Seti I at Abydos, for we do not know what it would
have been like had it been completed. It must also be re-
2 l 2
membered that Khargah is about 130 miles from the Nile, and
thatworkmen and tools would have to be transported from
Egypt across that terrible stone plateau to build the temple.
It may reasonably be asked, Why did Darius and the Ptolemies
and the Roman Emperors build so many fine temples in this
Oasis? None of the kings of Egypt built temples solely with
the view of spreading the knowledge of their religion among
the outlying peoples of their Empire, for none of them
possessed the spirit of missionary enterprise. They built
temples in the Sudan and the Oases and Sinai solely with the
idea of encouraging and developing trade and commerce, and
temples and their neighbouring buildings served both as
fortified outposts and storage places for gold and other
merchandize. The great trade route from Egypt to Dar Ftir
passed through the Oasis of Khargah, and the temples stood
near it, so that the garrisons might afford protection for the
caravans and the goods which they brought from the far south.
The temple of Dush (Kysis) was at the south end of the Oasis,
and the temple of Khargah at the north. Wherever an important
trade centre existed there was a temple built. Darius, the
Ptolemies, and the Romans developed the Sfidan trade to a
remarkable degree, and the temples of the Oasis prove that the
products of the south were of great value. In recent years the
glory of the old Forty Days’ Road (Darb al-Arbafin) has
departed, and the British have caused most of the Sfidan trade
to follow the course of the Nile. Should that route, however,
become unsafe, the old desert roads would be again used by
the merchants, and caravans Wall of unbaked bricks.
would travel to the south by the
routes which they followed for
thousands of years.
The temple of Nadurah
stands on a hill rather more
than half a mile to the south-
east of the temple of Darius.
The main building is about
36 feet in length and 26 feet in
Plan of the Temple of Nadurah.
breadth, and stands in an en-
closure surrounded by a brick wall. It was probably built by
Antoninus Pius about a.d. 140.
Of the early Christian Cemetery, called
special interest is
aUBaguat, which stands on the southern slopes of Jebel

Ter, about a mile from the temple of Darius. Here are the
OASIS OF KHARGAH 533
Khargah.
at
Cemetery
Christian
the
of
view
General
ruins of about 200 tombs. These rise one above the other,
and as they are built in streets the place may be fittingly
described as a city of the dead. The tombs are built of crude
brick, and many consist of a single chamber measuring about
20 feet in length by 15 feet in width. Inside many have
arches with recesses, and the doorways are usually ornamented
with pillars. The bodies were laid in pits, like the
pits of Egypt, and even in Hoskins’
had been plundered by the natives, who
grave-clothes of the dead lying about
Interior of a funerary chapel at Khargah.
of the tombs are rectangular and have domes ;

the fronts and
sides are decorated with arches, which are supported by pillars.
One isa large building, and has aisles, like a church, and a
few are decorated with painted figures of Christian saints.
The building with the aisles was probably a funerary chapel, in
which services commemorative of the dead were held. Its
facade is ornamented with eleven columns, supporting ten
arches ; under each arch is a window, and a triangular niche.
On the inside, the visitor will notice the Egyptian symbol of life
ankh, which the early Christians {identified with the cross.
^
In one tomb, which is well worth a visit, the inside of the
dome is covered^ with pictures representing Adam and Evej
) ;
Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah, with a ram and a sacrificial altar

Daniel and the lions den Noah in the Ark, wherefrom a dove
5
is departing; Justice with the Scales and figures of Christ,

;
Isaiah, Mary, Paul, Thekla and Irene, The legends in Greek

describe the scenes depicted. There is another tomb decorated
The Christian Cemetery at Khargah. (From Cailliaud.
in the same manner, but the scenes are more elaborate and in
some respects more interesting. The artist attempted to depict
the principal scenes in Bible history, and even some of the
Parables, for in this tomb we find figures of the Wise and
Foolish Virgins. In the centre of eachtomb is the pit wherein
the body was buried, after it had been embalmed and swathed
in linen. These tombs were built for wealthy Christians who
resided in the Oasis, and they prove that at the time when
they were built the town of Hebt was in a flourishing condition.
In 1908-9, Mr. Lythgoe and Mr. Winlock began to excavate
a portion of the Christian cemetery at the expense of Mr. .
Pierpont Morgan. During the winter of 1909-10 they con-

ducted a series of excavations at the great temple of Hibis, and
Prof. Maspero appointed M. Emile Baraize to consolidate and
restore the temple whilst it was being cleared by them. They
cleared the ground outside the temple, and on both sides of
53 ^ OASIS OF KHARGAH.
the temple excavations were made down to the ancient surface

level. A number of reliefs, hitherto buried, were brought to
light, and in one of them Darius is seen in a boat picking
flowers to offer to the god Menu, and in another the god
Sutekh is seen slaying the Serpent of Evil. Mr. Winlock states
in his report that of the existing temple two stages of construc-
tion have been discovered earlier thaq the reign of Nektanebo,
also remains of additions and changes which were made in
Ptolemaic times, and have been hitherto unknown. The
remains of an exterior stone wall built by Ptolemy II have been
discovered, and portions of reliefs of Ptolemy III, etc. The
temple flourished during the whole of the Ptolemaic Period,
and all through the early centuries of our era. In Christian
times a small church was built in the north-east corner, and
fragments of Arab glass prove that the Oasis was occupied by
the Muslims.
—
The Oasis Wells. According to Mr. Beadnell there are
230 native-owned wells in the Oasis, which yield a total
discharge of 295 kirats, or 8,000 gallons a minute, i.e .,
11,500,000 gallons a day. The largest well in the Oasis is
’Ain Estakhrabat Gannah, with' a discharge of between 700
and 800 gallons per minute. Under the rule of the Romans
many important irrigation works were carried out in the Oasis,
and they made trenches and drove underground aqueducts
through the solid rock with consummate skill. The most
remarkable of these aqueducts are found at Umm al-Dabadib,
about 22 miles north-west of Khargah, and when one of them
was cleared out in 1900 water again began to flow. This
supply enabled the authorities to reclaim about twelve acres of
land from the desert. Mr. Beadnell explored one of the under-
ground aqueducts and found that it was 4*6 kilometres long,
and he states that the excavation of the manholes or vertical
shafts which connected it with the surface must have been a
gigantic task. One of these was 175 feet deep, and the con-
struction of the four subterranean aqueducts, with their 600
or 700 vertical shafts, which he describes, necessitated the
excavation and removal of 20,000 cubic metres of solid rock.
The water which flowed from the aqueducts was sweet and
had a temperature of 87° Fahrenheit. The bores of many
ancient wells are lined with casing made of palm or acacia
wood, and the timbers were fitted together with water-tight
joints. In spite of all the efforts which are being made to
keep up the water supply in the Oasis, it is becoming clear
thatmany parts of it must eventually be overwhelmed by the

sand dunes,* which are usually of a crescent or horse- shoe
shape. In size they vary from i or 2 metres from horn to
horn to 200 or 300 metres, and they vary in height from 1 to
130 feet. In high winds the dunes move bodily, and they
travel from 30 to 60 feet in a year, even over rising ground.
The native builds fences to keep the sand off his crops, but
in the end he finds his land overwhelmed by the sand which
piles itself up against the fences. The history of the Oasis is
practically that of one long endless fight of man against sand.
The principal export is dates, the various varieties of which
are much appreciated all over Egypt. The number of date-
palms in and 70,000, the most
the Oasis is between 65,000
important groves being at Khargah, Gannah, Bulak, and Beris.
A mature palm bears about 150 lbs. of dates each year, which
sell for from 45 to 50 piastres, i.e., between gs. and 105-.
Certain kinds of dates are reserved for use in the Oasis, and
these are kept in earthenware jars, as in the Sudan the dates ;
exported are sold “ in the lump/ in palm-leaf baskets, and no

5
attempt is made to pack them. It is a great pity that the best

Khargah dates cannot be packed in boxes as is done with the
dates at Basrah, on the Persian Gulf, for they would certainly
fetch a good price in the markets of Cairo. Date palms begin
to bear fruit when about 20 years old, and they continue to bear
fruit for 100 years many of the most valuable trees are said
;
to be over 100 years old. During the last 2 or 3 years the

potato has been cultivated at Khargah with great success.
In connection with the Khargah Oasis, Professor Maspero has
made some interesting remarks about the Egyptian word which
is used for “ oasis,
55
viz., Uahet, Tj • This word is
^
akin in meaning to also pronounced ut or uahet ,

I
the “ apparel of a mummy, i.e., the swathings

55
which signifies
with their jewellery and amulets, in fact, that with which the
mummy is enveloped or covered. Dr. Brugsch thought that
an oasis was so called because it was covered up, or enveloped,
with sand, but Professor Maspero’s view is different. Now,
when Herodotus speaks (iii, 26) of the expedition which
Cambyses sent against the inhabitants of the Oasis of Jupiter
Ammon, he mentions that they arrived at the town of Oasis, a
distance of seven days from Thebes. The Oasis here referred
0i
*
The natives call the sand dune burkan (Arabic plur. (j-aAy).
7
to of course, Khargah, which, he explains incidentally, is called

is,
in own language Maicdpu>v vyeo?, i.e., “ Island of the

his
Blessed.” This information is important, for it proves that the
people possessed a legend which made the blessed live in the
Oasis of Khargah ; and as we know from Egyptian texts that
Tchestcheset, i.e., Dakhlah, was the abode of the “ Spirits,” it is
tolerably certain that the oases of Dakhlah and Khargah were
regarded as a sort of paradise, the position of which was
undefined and vague. We have already seen that “Uahet”
means a mummy’s shroud, and a very slight modification of the
word, or the addition of a sign, will make it mean first
“ mummy ” and then “ place of mummy ” thus the Oasis of
;
Khargah was called “ Uahet” because an early belief made the

spirits of the mummified or blessed dead to dwell there. This
legend must be very old, for the name “ Uahet ” is mentioned on
a stele of the Xllth dynasty. The god of the Oases was Anubis,
and Anubis was incarnate in the jackal therefore the Jackal-
;
god became the god of the mummies in the Oases, and later of
all the dead. This explains how the jackal-headed Anubis
comes to be the god and guide of the dead, and why in funeral
scenes he stands by the bier and embraces the dead. It was
believed that he met the spirit and soul of the deceased when
they left their tomb in the mountains of the Nile Valley in
order to set out for paradise, and that he led them across the
desert to the “ country of the mummies,” where they would
join the companies of the blessed dead.
The Oasis of Kurkur lies at a distance of about 70 miles
west of Aswan, but the most direct road to it from the Nile
starts at Ar-Rakabah, or Contra Ombos. This Oasis was used
chiefly as a halting place for caravans on their way to Esna
from the Oasis of Salimah, where, when the slave trade was in a
flourishing state, so many desert routes converged. From
Khrkur a road runs to Al-Khargah. Between Khrkhr and
Dungftn, a little to the north of the latter place, is a large salt
plain, from which large quantities of rock salt were brought into
the village of Al-‘Aziz, to the north of Aswan, and sold in the
Aswan bazaar.
The Oasis of Salimah, which is in the Shdan, lies due west
of the village of Tankhr, and west of a ridge of mountains which
are about 85 miles from the Nile, in 21° 14' 19" lat. N., and
0
in long. 2 19'. The Oasis consists of two parts the first
:
has a diameter of about 800 feet, and contains many' date

trees and tamarisks ; the second has a diameter of 1,000 feet,
OASIS OF SELIMAH. 539
and equally fertile.

is Amarsh full of reeds lies between them.
When Cailliaud visited the Oasis between 1819 and 1822
there were only 300 or 400 trees there. A little to the south-
west of the southern portion he saw the remains of a small

square house, which was said to be the home of a princess .
called Salima, who was the head of a terrible band of warriors.

There were no ancient Egyptian ruins to be seen at Salima
Oasis in Cailliaud’s time. During the first half of the
nineteenth century Salima was a most important place for
caravans,and it formed a point of convergence of all the great
slave and trade routes of North-East and Central Africa.
The roads from Al-Fasher and Al-‘Obed in the south met
here, the road from Berber in the east joined them at this
place, and the great caravan road to the Oases of Khargah,
Dakhlah, and Siwah started here and ended in Morocco.
Many other very small oases exist at various places in the
desert, and the greater number of them are inhabited, at least
during certain seasons of the year. Each of the large tribes of
nomads who pasture sheep and herd cattle in the desert owns a
number of such oases, and the natives fight fiercely for the
possession of them. Many of these oases are very small, and
the palms in each only produce enough dates to feed two or
three men. They are, however, invaluable to the nomads,
who take refuge in them, with their cattle, during violent
sandstorms.
540
X. -CAIRO TO MOUNT SINAI.

For the travellerwho has the time to devote to the journey
and is prepared to do a certain amount of “roughing it,”
nothing can be more delightful than an expedition to the sites
in the Peninsula of Sinai, with certain places in which ancient
tradition has associated some of the most remarkable of the
The Peninsula of Sinai, showing positions of Mount Serbal, Mount Musa

(Sinai ?), and Ras as-Safsaf (Horeb).
events recorded in the Bible. Apart from this consideration,

moreover, this weird country is worth seeing for the sake of its
Egyptological associations, and for its desert and mountainous
character, and for its scenery, which is always fine ; sometimes
it is picturesque, at other times it is awe-inspiring and,*in its
CAIRO TO MOUNT SINAI. 541
mountain fastnesses, it is savage and even terrible. It should

also be remembered that the traveller who has made the
journey to Jebel Serbal, and Jebel Musa, which is now
generally identified as Mount Sinai, and Jebel Ras as-Safsaf
(Horeb ?), and has visited the desert places which have been
sanctified by generations of holy men, has acquired an
experience which will enable him to understand desert life
past and present, and a knowledge of the conditions under
which monks and anchorites lived, which can be obtained in
no other region nearer than the mountains of Armenia and
Persia, which lie on the northern and eastern borders of Meso-
potamia. In a short description of the routes which enable
the visitor to see the Holy Mountain, and the sites of the
mines worked by the Egyptians for thousands of years, and
the Monastery of St. Catherine, it is out of the question to
attempt to enumerate all the identifications of sites mentioned
in the Book of Exodus, especially as authorities differ in many
important particulars. For these and many other details which
do not fall within the province of a book of this kind, the
reader is referred to the splendid Survey* published by the
Palestine Exploration Fund, which contains accurate maps,
lists of names, archaeological and historical notes, and a vast
amount of information on all subjects connected with the
peninsula. This is the most exhaustive work on Sinai which
has ever appeared, and it contains, without doubt, the best
description of the peninsula hitherto published. Professor
Hull’s small but excellent book, Mount Seir , Sinai etc. ,
(London, 1885), will be found most useful; Ebers’ Durch

Gosen zum Sinai (Leipzig, 1881) contains very valuable
information on Sinai ; and by those whose interest lies chiefly
in the Bible narrative of the Exodus and in the wanderings
of the children of Israel, the late Dean Stanley’s Sinai a?td
Palestine and Palmer’s Desert of the Exodus (London, Cam-
,
bridge, 1871), and Ancient History from the Monuments Sinai ,
(London, 1892), should be read. Every traveller to Sinai will,

of course, have with him a copy of the Bible.
Among other works on Sinai must be mentioned Laborde,
Voyage de lArabie Petrie, 1830 ; Lottin de Laval, Voyage
dans le Peninsule Arabique 1855-1859; Lepsius, Egypt,
,
Ethiopia ,
and Sinai,
London, 1853 ;
Brugsch, Wanderung
Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai 1869, consisting of
*
,
one volume of text, three volumes of photographs, and a portfolio contain-

ing a map.
542 CAIRO TO MOUNT SINAI.
nach der Turkisminen 1866.,

The maps, plans, views and
inscriptions published by Lepsius in his Denkmdler are accurate
and good, and they have formed the base of all the archaeo-
logical works on Sinai which have appeared since they were
issued. A most valuable book for the study of the archaeology
of Sinai is Raymond Weill’s Recueil des Inscriptions Egyptiennes
du Sinai Paris, 1904. The author has revised the texts pub-
,
lished by the late Dr. Birch in the Ordnance Survey and ,
thrown much light upon obscure portions of the history of the

occupation of the Peninsula of Sinai by the Egyptians.
The best months of the year for visiting Sinai are
March, and from October 15th to November 15th; in excep-
tional years, when summer or winter is earlier than usual, the
journey may conveniently be made a fortnight earlier. The
time spent on the journey depends, of course, upon the
traveller himself, but unless he wishes to make special investi-
gations of certain outlying districts, or to make collections
of natural things, 16 to 20 days will be sufficient for him
to see all the principal places in the peninsula, including
two to four days’ visit to the Monastery of St. Catherine. As
concerns expense, that also depends entirely on the amount of
comfort which the traveller requires on the journey. He who
is content to travel without a tent, and will carry with him tins
of meat, jam, milk, biscuits, etc., a small spirit stove with a

supply of methylated spirit, and three or four good rugs, and
is willing to ride a camel 10 or 12 hours a day, may perform
the journey cheaply in eight to 10 days. In the case of a party

which includes ladies and men unused to desert life under such
conditions, tents and beds, and a cook with a portable cooking
stove, and an ample supply of provisions, wine, etc., must be
taken. The hire of camels and attendants is in this case an
important item in the expenses. Bakshish must, of course,
also be considered. It must be remembered that in Sinai, as
in all places visited by tourists, the expenses tend to increase
rather than decrease in the case of strangers or those who are
unacquainted with the people and country, and it is therefore
best to apply to Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, who will supply an
estimate for the entire journey, in which a fixed sum per day
will be charged per person according to the number of the
party. Travellers are thus saved all the trouble in bargaining
about the hire of boats, camels, and servants, and it is
unquestionably the only way of performing the journey in
comfort. In addition to the articles required for personal use
g . I
PENINSULA OF SINAI. 543
the traveller may, with great advantage, take with him a supply
of cheap pen-knives and native-grown tobacco, and a few cheap
compasses for the men of Sinai (the latter being much prized, as
by their means they are able to find the direction in which to
pray when travelling in the desert), and small packets of needles,
thread, cakes of highly scented soap, small mirrors (to be
obtained very cheaply in the native bazaars of Cairo), and a
supply of bright-coloured Manchester cotton handkerchiefs,
which cost less than sixpence apiece in London, and are
greatly prized in every desert in the East. Gifts of the kind
are relatively inexpensive, and in many places are valued far
more than presents of money.
The Peninsula of Sinai is one of the most mountainous
deserts in the world, in short, “ a desert of rock, gravel, and
“ boulder, of gaunt peaks, dreary ridges, and arid valleys and
“ plateaux, the whole forming a scene of stern desolation which
“ fully merits its description as the great and terrible desert.’ ”
‘
The peninsula has on its eastern side the Gulf of ‘Akabah, and
on the western the Gulf of Suez. If we regard Suez, ‘Akabah,
and Ras Muhammad, the most southerly point of the peninsula,
as the three points of a triangle, we find that the two sides
measure 186 and 133 miles respectively, and that the length
of the base is 150 miles; the area of the peninsula is 11,500
square miles. Nearly the whole peninsula is mountainous*
The valleys fall away to the east and west towards the coasts
from a range of mountains which practically divides the main
portion of the peninsula into two parts ; the highest point of
the range is Jebel Zebir-Katharina, which the officers of the
Ordnance Survey estimated to be 8,550 feet high.
Geology. —A broad belt of dark red or brown sandstone
stretches across the peninsula, and reaches nearly from shore
to shore. Southward from the margin of the sandstone belt
extends a triangular mass of mountains, formed of plutonic
and metamorphic rocks, chiefly granites, and syenites, and
varieties of gneiss and mica-schist. On the western seaboard^
south of Suez, is a narrow strip of territory with rocks of
cretaceous, tertiary, and post-tertiary formations.
—
Population. The peninsula is inhabited by a number of
nomads, who earn their living chiefly as carriers of stores of
various kinds, and as traders who journey between Cairo and
Suez and dispose of any charcoal, millstones, gum-arabic, etc.,
which they have acquired. Among other things sold is the
munn or “ manna,” which is a gummy, saccharine substance
,
—
544 PENINSULA OF SINAI.
exuding from the tarfah or tamarisk tree. Palmer describes

,
the Arabs of Sinai as a hardy, well-made race, and the men,

though clad in the most wretched tatters, have often a certain
air of dignity about them. Their dress is a white shirt, with
long open sleeves, fastened round the waist with a leather
girdle, and over this is worn the ‘abba, or long robe of goat’s
or camel’s hair. On their heads they wear a turban and the
fez, and on their feet fish-skin sandals. The women wear a
loose blue frock, a blue mantle, strings of beads, amulets made
of metal or glass, etc. ; they tattoo their chins. Matrons plait
their hair into a knot, and maidens dress their hair in short
curls over their foreheads. The children wear nothing, except
in the cold weather, when they sometimes have pieces of goat
skin, which they turn towards the direction of the wind and
try to shelter themselves behind them. The Sinai Arabs are
for the most part Tawarah, i.e., Arabs of Tor, a town on the
eastern side of the peninsula; in 1899 their males were
said to be 4,000 in number. The Tawarah are divided into
seven tribes, which Palmer enumerates in the following order :
(1) Sawalihah ; (2) Awlad Said; (3) Gararishah ; (4) ‘Alekat;

(5) Amzenah ; (6) Awlad Shahin ; (7) Gibaliyah. There are
several subdivisions of these. Each tribe has three shekhs. In
the matter of laws, life is taken for life, and adultery, though
usually punished by death, may be atoned for by the payment
of money or camels. The Sinai Arabs pray twice daily, and
believe in a general resurrection, and offer up sacrifices at the
tombs of their saints, especially to Nabi Salih and Nabi Mftsa.
According to Lord Cromer’s recent Report (Egypt, No. 1,
1906) there are said to be about 30,000 dwellers in the
peninsula, which he describes as a “vast waste land.” They
are all of Arab origin, and are said to be the descendants of the
soldiers whom Justinian sent to Sinai in the Vlth century of
our era. They still observe their old tribal customs, and the
system of taking blood-money, and the hereditary “ vendetta,”
are in full force. The blood-money is fixed at forty-one camels.
Early in 1905 the Sinaitic people became very restless, several
raids took place, and two brothers were murdered. The
Egyptian Government sent Mr. Jennings Bramly to Sinai to
report on the country generally, and in a short time he settled
thirty or forty cases, and the murderers of the two brothers
were hanged at Nakhl on May 28th. A well-equipped camel
corps has been organized ; a rest-house, mosque, barracks, and
police station have been built at Nakhl. On February 20th,
AND ITS HISTORY. 545
1906, two Staff Officers left Constantinople for Alexandria,

and on their arrival in Cairo they lodged in the house of the
Ottoman Delegate Mhkhtar Pasha, and held no communica-
tion with any member of the Egyptian Government, or with
H.M/s Agent and Consul-General. On March 4th they
suddenly left for Berht, whence they were to proceed to
‘Akabah. Meanwhile Turkish troops occupied Tabah, A1
Gattar, and Marashash, and additional troops were dispatched
from Damascus and other Syrian towns to the frontier. It
became evident that the “Ottoman Government were abusing
“the patience of H.M.’s Government and trifling with the
“ question at issue/’ The boundary between Turkey and Egypt
at Rafah was marked by a tree, on each side of which was a
marble pillar about this time the pillars were pulled down and
;
removed in the Turkish interest. The Report of the Officers

who had gone to ‘Akabah was received on April 2nd, and was
found to be “eminently unsatisfactory/’ The Porte then
referred the matter to Mhkhtar Pasha, who boldly stated that
“the Peninsula of Sinai consisted only of the territory lying
“ south of a line drawn directly from Akabah to Suez, and the
“boundaries between Egypt and Turkey were lines drawn
“ from Rafah to Suez, and from Suez to Akabah. A com-
“ promise was hinted at by Mhkhtar Pasha, by whose orders
“ it is not clear, of a frontier from Ras Muhammad to Al-‘Arish.”
According to Mhkhtar Pasha’s contention, the Turks would
have had the right to construct a strategic railway to Suez,
and the effect of his compromise would have been to advance
the Turkish frontier to Nakhl, and to turn the Gulf of ‘Akabah
into a mare clausum in the possession of Turkey, and into a
standing menace to the security of the trade route to the East.
On April 30th, the British Ambassador received instructions
to inform the Ottoman Government that ten days would be
given them to comply with the British demands, failing which
the situation would become grave. A fortnight later the
Sultan gave orders for the evacuation of Tabah by Turkish
troops, and accepted the demands of H.M.’s Government.
In modern times the antiquities of Sinai were discovered by
Niebuhr in 1762, and he published an account of them in
1774. They were next examined by Seetzen in 1809; by
Bontin in 1811 by Burckhardt in 1812 and 1813 by Riippell
; ;
in 1817; by Ricci and Linant in 1820; by Bonomi, Lord

Prudhoe, Major Felix and Burton between 1820 and 1828 ; by
Laborde and Linant in 1828; by Robinson in 1838; by
2 M
546 HISTORY OF SINAI.
Lepsius in 1845 by Lottin de Laval in 1850; by Brugsch in

;
1866 ;
by Holland in 1868 by Lord in 1869 by the members
*
;
of the Ordnance Survey, including E. H. Palmer, between

1865 and 1869 and by many other travellers in the following
;
years. Among recent travellers must be specially mentioned

Monsieur G. Benedite, who made two journeys to Sinai during
the years 1888-1890. In this period he visited every part of
the peninsula, and saw and copied and photographed every
inscription of importance in the country, and as a result of his
work he contributed 2,400 copies of texts, chiefly unpublished,
to the Corpus Inscrip tionum Semiticarum. M. Benedite and
M. Weill together left no archaeological work that was worth
doing in Sinai undone. In 1905 Mr. C. T. Currelly visited
Sinai and arranged for the removal of some of the Egyptian
monuments to the museum in Cairo he was assisted by
;
Mr. Frost in cutting out the inscriptions at Wadi Magharah, and

he published an account of his work in Prof. Petrie’s Researches
in Sinai London, 1906.
,
In the same year Prof. Petrie, on
behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund, examined some of the sites
in Sinai which had been described by Lepsius, Weill, and others.
—
History of Sinai. In pre-dynastic times the Egyptians
appear to have been perfectly aware that there were copper
and turquoise mines in the Peninsula of Sinai, and there can
be but little doubt that the kings of Lower Egypt had
worked those in the Wadi Magharah before the union
of the countries of the south and the north. In the
dynastic period the oldest kings mentioned are Smerkha,
(1st dynasty) and Tcheser, a king of the Illrd
dynasty ;
figures are found in the Wadi Magh&rah.
their
Next we have mentions of Seneferu,* Khufu (Cheops),
Sahu-Ra, Men-kau-Heru, Tetka-Ra, Pepi I, and Pepi II,
allbefore the end of the VI th dynasty.
Under the kings
of the XHth dynasty Sarabit al-Khadim was opened
up, and here we have monuments of Amen-em-hat III,
Amen-em-hat IV, etc. Between 1500 and 1400 b.c. Hatshepset
and Thothmes III opened the mines, which had been closed
for several hundreds of years, and several of their successors
carried on works there, and made profits out of the copper
and turquoises, which were found there and were highly prized.
JEBEL SERBAL, JEBEL MbSA. 547
After the XXthdynasty no royal inscriptions are found at Sinai,

It is difficult account for this, but such is the fact. The
to
absence of royal inscriptions perhaps suggests that the working
of the copper mines of Sinai was no longer a Government
monopoly, but even so the reason is wanting.
From about 1200 B.c. until the beginning of the Christian
era nothing of importance is known about Sinai, but it seems
tolerably certain that monks and anchorites settled there in
the second and third centuries, after Sinai had been made a
part of the Roman Empire. This naturally brings us to the
consideration of the question where they settled, and why they
took up their abode in certain districts. We
should expect
that they would gather near the places which tradition pointed
out as being made holy by occurrences related in the Old
Testament, and if this be so we may conclude that they
gathered round the mountain on which the Law was given to
Moses. But which mountain is the Mount Sinai of the
Bible? An old tradition makes Jebel Serbal to be Mount
Sinai, and even in early times this mountain possessed its
“ holy places.” On the other hand, another tradition, but a
later one, regarded Jebel Musa as Sinai, and it too possessed
its “ holy places.” Modern authorities differ on this point, for
Lepsius, Ebers, and others pronounce Serbal to be Mount
Sinai, and Robinson, Stanley, and Palmer declare the plain of
Ar-Rahah to have been the place where the Israelites encamped.
On the other hand, Tischendorf, Laborde, Ritter, and Strauss
consider Jebel Musa to be Sinai. The oldest writers who
discuss the matter, from Eusebius to Cosmas Indicopleustes,
accept the older tradition in favour of Mount Serbal, and the
numerous monasteries which were founded near it in the early
centuries of the Christian era prove that their inhabitants
favoured the view that Serbal was Sinai. Moreover, Ptolemy,
in the second century, mentions the episcopal town of Pharan,
which was situated in the Wadi There is no early
Firan.
tradition in favour of Jebel Musa, and
was only declared to
it
be a holy place by Justinian (a.d. 527-565), whobuilta church

there in honour of Mary the Virgin. By the side of his church
Justinian built a fort to protect the monks against the Arab
tribes of the district, and this assured the downfall of the
monastic institutions of Serbal, where the monks were unde-
fended. They suffered much at the hands of the Saracens in
373, and again in 395 or 41 1, and, when they found that the
church and monks of Jebel Musa were protected by a fort, they
2 m 2
548 wad! mukattab.
appear to have deserted Serbal entirely, and to have adopted a

new set of holy places.
The witness of the Nabatean Inscriptions is in favour of Serbal,
for the and the greater number of them are
oldest of these
found in the Wadi Mukattab, which is close by Serbal. The
inscriptions are not mere scrawls which were made by the
members of caravans, but are funereal texts cut on the rocks to
commemorate the names of travellers who died on their journey.
Antoninus Martyr, who flourished in the sixth century,
describes (see Chapter 38 of his Itinerary ed. Gildemeister,
,
p. 27) Sinai as rocky, and says that it has about it the cells of
many holy men ; Horeb also has the same, and he adds,
“ they say that Horeb is holy ground ” (et dicunt esse Horeb
terram mundam). He then goes on to mention the snow-
white marble idol which the Saracens set up in the mountain,
and which changed its colour during the festivals which were
celebrated there in honour of the moon. Antoninus next speaks
of the valley between Sinai and Horeb, where the dew from
heaven descends, which is called “ manna,” and he tells how
it was collected and brought into the monastery, where small
quantities were placed in bottles, and given away as a thing

which brought a blessing on its possessor. To Antoninus
himself some was given, and he tasted the drink which the
monks made from it. He went up to Sinai from Horeb,
and was met by an innumerable company of monks, carrying a
cross and singing Psalms, and the monks and party of
Antoninus prostrated themselves before them and they wept
together. The monks then showed Antoninus the fountain
where Moses saw the burning bush ;
this fountain was sur-
rounded by walls, and was inside the monastery, which had
three abbots, one knowing Latin, another Greek, and the third
Egyptian. From there he went a distance of 3,000 paces, and
arrived at the cave wherein Elijah fled from Jezebel, and 3,000
paces more brought him to the highest point of the mountain,
where there was a small chapel about 6 feet square. In this
place no one dared to remain, but at dawn the monks were in
the habit of going up there and performing divine service. It
was the custom for men to shave off their hair and beards at
this place, and throw them away, and this Antoninus did. We
may note that nowhere does Antoninus describe Sinai as a
“holy place,” and that he does not say he believed the giving
of the Law to have taken place there on the other hand, he
;
does speak of Horeb as a “ holy place,” though why he does not

WADI MUKATTAB, 549
'
Scene in the Wadi Mukattab, showing Rocks with figures of Animals and Men,
{
and several “ Sinaitic Inscriptions” cut upon them.
;
55 ° WELLS OF MOSES.
say. It is impossible to arrive at any identification of Sinai

which will satisfy all critics, and all that can be said finally on the
matter is that Mount Sinai has been identified with (i) Serbal
(2) The peak called Horeb in Christian times ; (3) Jebel Musa ;
(4) Ras as-Safsaf.
1. Suez to the Monastery of St. Catherine,

via Wadi Magharah.
The distance from Suez to the Monastery of St. Catherine
by the shortest route is about 150 miles, and by the longest
about 180 miles. Having crossed over to the east side of the
peninsula and set out on his journey, the traveller’s first halting
place is ‘Ayun Musa, or the Wells of Moses.
About mile 21 the Wadi Sudur is reached. This Wadi is

memorable as the scene of the murder of Professor E. H. Palmer,
Flag-Lieutenant Harold Charrington, and Captain W. J. Gill,
R.E. Professor Palmer started on a secret mission on June 30th,
1882, to the Arabs of the desert and Sinai, the object of which
.
was to buy their neutrality, and to prevent them from destroying

or blocking any portion of the Suez Canal. Preliminary inter-
views with the shekhs convinced him that their neutrality could
be secured for the sum of ^20,000, and the Admiral of the
British Fleet placed this sum at his disposal. Taking ^3,000
with him, he set out with Charrington and Gill, who intended
to cut the telegraph wire between Cairo and Constantinople,
meaning to go to KaPat An-Nahlah to make final arrangements
for the payment of the money to the shekhs. The guide of
the party was Meter Abu Sofia, and as they were passing
through the Wadi Sudur, on August 10th, he led them into an
ambush, and the three Englishmen were captured ‘by Arabs
and bound. The following morning they were placed in a row
facing a gully with a fall of 60 feet in front of them, and five
Arabs behind them, three of whom had been ordered to shoot
his man. Palmer fell first as the result of his murderer’s; fire,
but the other two were missed, and began to scramble down
the gully; on their way down, however, or at the bottom, they
were despatched by the Arabs, and thus the three envoys were
murdered. Their remains were brought to England, and buried
in St. Paul’s Cathedral on April 6th, 1883. A price had been
set upon Palmer’s head by the rebels in Cairo some time before
he was murdered, and it seems that he was shot, not for the
sake of the money which he was carrying, but in obedience to
‘Arabi’s orders.
pharaoh’s bath. 55 1
The W&di Wardan is next passed, and then the W£di
Hawarah, a place which, on account of a bitter spring that

rises there, has been identified as the Marah of the Bible. In
the Wadi Gharandal, about 50 miles from Suez, a certain
amount of vegetation is found; this is due to the water,
of a not very good quality, which exists here. Some have
identified the valley with the Elim of the Bible. About
five miles further on is the Wadi Usat, where there are
springs, and in five miles more Wadi Kuwesah is reached.
Near the seashore is Jebel Hammam Fir‘aun, or the
Mountain of Pharaoh’s Bath. On the slope of this mountain
is a sulphur spring, which is nearly boiling hot ; its waters
are much resorted to by the Arabs who suffer from rheumatism.

No Arab will, however, dip in the waters until he has first
offered an oil-cake to the “angry ghost” of Pharaoh, which is
regarded as the presiding genius of the place. Professor
Palmer relates the Arab legend in the following words :
—
“ When our Lord Moses had quarrelled with Pharaoh, and
“ determined to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, he
“ found himself stopped by the salt sea, but at the command
“ of God Most High he raised his staff and smote upon the
“ waters, whereupon they parted upon the right hand and on
“ the left, and the children of Israel found a dry passage in the
“ bottom of the deep. Then Pharaoh and his soldiery essayed
“ to follow, but when they had come midway Moses again
“ raised his staff and, smiting the waters, said, Return, O sea,
4
“ 4
into thy former course/ and the waters closed over the
44
Egyptians, and the children of Israel saw the corpses of their
44
enemies floating on the waves. But Pharaoh was a mighty
‘ 4
man, and struggled with the billows; then, seeing Moses
44
standing on the rock above him, he waxed exceeding wroth,
44
and gave so fierce a gasp that the waters boiled up as they
44
closed over his drowning head. Since that time the angry
44
ghost of the king of Egypt has haunted the deep, and should
44
any unfortunate vessel come near the spot, he rises up and
44
overwhelms it in the waves, so that to the present day no ship
44
can sail on Pharaoh’s Bath.”
Having passed Wadi at = Tal and Wadi Shabekah, the
place is soon after reached where the valley joins the W&d!
aUHomr; here the road starts which leads to Sinai via
Sarabit al-Khadim. Keeping to the road on the right which
is near the sea, and journeying along W&di Tayyibah,
Al-Mahair is passed, and Ras Abu Zanimah is reached;
55 2 WADI MAGHARAH.
at this place is the tomb of a Muhammadan saint, which is
usually decorated with a miscellaneous assortment of gifts

from the faithful. The Arab legend of the mare of Abft Zena
given in the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai
is
—
’,
Part I, p. 67, and runs thus “ An Arab named Abft Zena

:
“ was riding a mare that was with foal, and, notwithstanding

“ her condition, was urging her along at a cruel speed. When
“ she came to the spot which now bears her name, he dug his
44
spurs into her sides, whereupon she made a tremendous bound,
“ and immediately after foaled and fell down dead. Abu Zena,
44
in wonder at the immense length of the stride which his
44
unfortunate beast had taken, marked the distance with stones,
44
and related the incident to his friends. The matter was soon
“ noised abroad, and every Arab that came by would relate the
“ story, marking out the distance as he did so with a stone.
44
Admiration for the mare’s performance soon grew with the
44
pagan Arabs of that time into a stronger feeling of venera-
44
tion, and the mare was worshipped as a deity, and offerings
“ of corn were brought to the spot. But when they forsook
“ idolatry, and came to look upon their previous idols as
“ devils, theyturned their late idolatrous observance into
44
ridicule, and an expression of aversion from the demon
44
supposed to haunt the spot ; and instead of bringing offerings
“ of barley or wheat they would throw pebbles on the heap,
44
and kick a little sand on it with their feet, crying, Eat that, and 4
“ ?
4
get thee gone !
(
Agsa allig ). This custom is kept up to
’
4 4
44
the present day, and no Arab passes the spot without kicking
44
the sand and throwing a pebble on to the heaps of stones,
44
exclaiming, as he does so, Agsa allig.’ ”
4 4 4
In ancient days there was a harbour here, and it was at this

point that the copper, malachite, and turquoise stones brought
down from the mines were exported to Egypt. Tradition
points to this place as the site of the Israelitish camp after the
Hebrews had crossed the sea. The road now crosses the
plain of Al-Markhah, through Wadi Hanak aULakam,
and then through Wadi Shallal ; here the route begins to
enter mountainous country, and Wadi Budrah is reached.
From the Pass of Nakb al = Budrah the Wadi Sidr is reached,
and in a very short time Wadi Magharah comes in sight
The mines of Wadi Magharah were worked by the kings of
Egypt from the 1 st to the Vlth dynasty, and the overseers
who were in charge of the works cut reliefs of many of them,
together with their names and titles, on the rocks. Work
wad! mukattab. 553
appears to have been suspended from the Vllth to the Xlth

dynasties inclusive, but the mines were reopened under the Xllth
dynasty. The miners were probably protected by a garrison
of Egyptians, who from time to time raided the inhabitants,
who are called Antiu and Mentiu in the inscriptions, and
the district was held to be under the direction of the god
Sept, and the goddess Hathor. The mines yielded the mdfktt ,
n stone, turquoise, which was greatly prized in
Egypt, and was much used for inlaying jewellery and other
objects, and was made into amulets. These mines were
abandoned at the end of the Xllth dynasty, probably because
the Egyptian Government could not work them at a profit.
The Egyptian inscriptions have been much injured by the
Arabs, who blast away the stone in search of turquoises. The
mines are well worth a visit, especially for those who wish
to examine old Egyptian mining methods, the roof pillars,
tunnelling, etc. Professor Palmer found on the various fissures
and cuttings in the rock chisel marks, which indicate the vast
amount of labour expended on them. The inscriptions are on
the rocks on the western side of the valley, opposite the site of
the old Fort and the ruins of Major Macdonald’s house. This
gentleman was an English officer who lived here for some
years, and reopened the mines, and employed the Arabs to
work; commercially his venture was a failure, and he subse-
quently died in Egypt a ruined man.
Passing out of Wadi Magharah, and journeying south through
Wadi Sidr,the interesting Wadi Mukattab, “ Valley of
Writings,” isreached. Here are the famous Sinaitic inscrip-
tions and rude drawings, which many, on the authority of
Cosmas Indicopleustes, have declared to be the work of the
Children of Israel. It is now known that these were the work
of the Nabataeans, who were masters of Sinai during the early
centuries of the Christian era ; the Arabic, Greek, and Coptic
graffiti belong to a still later date. Many of the symbols are
Pagan and many Christian. The Wadi Firan is next entered,
with its wild and striking scenery ; in this valley, not far from
the Oasis, is the rock called H£si al-Khattatin, which
Arab tradition says is the rock which Moses struck when he
made water to flow forth. It is surrounded by small heaps of
pebbles, and tradition declares that these were thrown there by
the Israelites after they had drunk their fill, in order to amuse
554 JEBEL SERBAL.
themselves. Any Arab who has a sick friend throws a pebble

in the name of Moses, and believes that he will be cured.
The Valley of Firan has been identified by some with
Rephidim. Towards the end of the valley is the Oasis of
Firan, a beautiful spot, and close by are the ruins of the old
town of Firan, upon the elevation called Al = Maharret.
Firan is the old episcopal town of Pharan, which is men-
tioned by Stephen of Byzantium, Ptolemy the Geographer,
and by Makrizi about a.d. 1400; the precious stone found in
this valley was called “ Pharanitis.” About a.d. 372 the
Blemmyes crossed the Red Sea in ships, and went to Raithou
and slew 43 monks, and Paul, their leader ; when they returned
to the coast they found that their ships had been burnt during
their absence. On hearing this news the Saracens from Pharan,
600 in number, led by Obedien, came down and killed all the
Blemmyes, who were afterwards buried with proper care.
About a.d. 400 the Bishop of Pharan was Nathyras, who had
formerly been a monk of Sinai, and a disciple of Silvanus, the
leader of the monks of Sinai; about a.d. 450 the Bishop was
one Macarius. The ruins consist of the foundations of a
monastery and parts of the church walls among the latter
;
Professor Palmer found a relief with the figure of a seated man

holding his arms aloft; he was disposed to regard it as a
representation of Moses at the Battle of Rephidim. The hills
near are honey-combed with monks’ cells, and on their tops
are the remains of their graves.
On the right side of Wadi Firan is Jebel at-Tahunah, or
Mountain of the Mill, which is remarkable for the number of
tombs, cells, and chapels on it. About half-way up is a ruined
church, above this are several small chapels, and on the
summit is a church, built on a foundation of large stones this ;
church was turned into a mosque after the Christians left it,
and a flight of steps leads to it from the valley. This mountain
has been identified with Gibeah by some writers. From the
top a splendid view of Gebel Serbal is obtained, and no one
should fail to make the ascent and enjoy it.
Jebel Serbal stands in a ridge which is three miles, long
from end to end; it is about 6,700 feet high. When looked
at from Wadi ‘Alayat it is seen to consist of five distinct peaks,
the highest of which, AUMadawwah, is 6,734 feet above sea
level. The name Al-Madawwah means “ light-house,” and is so
called because fires were there to warn the tribes of danger
lit
or invasion of hostile tribes. The name See bal is said to

JEBEL SERBAL. 555
mean “coat of mail,” in allusion to the appearance of the

mountain when water rushes over the smooth rocks upon its
summit during a storm. Mr. Holland described the mountain
after a heavy winter rain as “ covered with a sheet of ice that
“ glittered like a breastplate.” Of the claims of Mount Serbal
to be considered as Mount Sinai, mention has already been
made. The ascent of the mountain requires a full day, and
should not be attempted by any who have not experience in
mountain climbing the upper portion of the mountain especially
;
is declared by experts to be difficult. Dean Stanley’s account

of his ascent and of the view from the top of the mountain is
as follows :
—
“ At 5.30 a.m. we started. We passed the instruc-
“ tive and suggestive sight of the ruins of the old Christian city
“ and episcopal city of Paran, under the hill which has great
“ claims to be that on which Moses prayed, whilst the battle of
“ Rephidim was fought for the passage through what is now,
“ whatever it may have been, the oasis of the desert. We then
“ turned up the long watercourse occupied in part by the brook
“ of Wady Aleyat, which conducted us to the base of the
“ mountain, where the spring rises amidst moss and fern. It
“ is one of the finest forms I have ever seen. It is a vast mass
“ of peaks, which, in most points of view, may be reduced to
“ five, the number adopted by the Bedouins. These five
“ peaks, all of granite, rise so precipitously, so column-like,
“ from the broken ground which forms the root of the moun-
“ tain, as at first sight to appear inaccessible. But they are
“ divided by steep ravines, filled with fragments of fallen
“ granite. Up the central ravine, Wady Abu-Hamad (‘valley
“ 4
of the father of wild figs/ so called from half a dozen in its
“ course), we mounted. It was toilsome, but not difficult, and
“ in about three hours we reached a ridge between the third
“ and fourth peak. Here we rested close by us were the
:
“ traces of a large leopard. Alittle beyond was a pool of

“ water surrounded by an old enclosure.
“ Three-quarters of an hour more brought us over smooth
“ blocks of granite to the top of the third or central peak,
“ its steep ascent was broken by innumerable shrubs like
“ sage or thyme, which grew to the very summit and at last,
;
“ also helped by loose stones arranged by human hands
“ (whether yesterday or 2,000 years ago), and through a
“ narrow pass of about 20 feet, came to the two eminences of
“ which this peak is formed. The highest of these is a huge
“ block of granite on this, as on the back of some petrified
;
556 JEBEL SERBAL.
“ tortoise, you stand and overlook the whole Peninsula of

“ Sinai. The Red Sea, with the Egyptian hills opposite and :
“ the wide waste of the Ka‘a on the south, the village and
“ grove of Tor just marked as a dark line on the shore; on
“ the east the vast cluster of what is commonly called Sinai,
“ with the peaks of St. Catherine and towering high above all,
;
“ the less famous, but most magnificent of all, the Mont Blanc
“ of those parts, the unknown and unvisited Um Shaumer.
“ Every feature of the extraordinary conformation lies before
“ you the wadys coursing and winding in every direction ;
;
“ the long crescent of the Wady es-Sheykh the infinite number

;
“ of mountains like a model their colours all as clearly dis-

;
“ played as inRussegger’s geological map, which we had in
“ our hands at the moment ; the dark granite, the brown sand-
“ stone, the yellow desert, the dots of vegetation along the
“ Wady Feiran, and the one green spot of the great palm-
“ grove (if so it be) of Rephidim. On the northern and some-
“ what lower eminence are the visible remains of a building,
“ which, like the stairs of stones mentioned before, may be of
“ any date, from Moses to Burckhardt. It consists of granite
“ fragments cemented with lime and mortar.
u In the centre is a rough hole, and close beside it, on the
“ granite rocks, are three of those mysterious inscriptions,
“ which, whatever they mean elsewhere, must mean here
“ that this summit was frequented by unknown pilgrims, who
“ used those characters the more so, as the like inscriptions
;
“ were scattered at intervals, through the whole ascent. The
“ point of rock immediately below this ruin was the extreme
“ edge of the peak. It was flanked on each side by the
“ tremendous precipices of the two neighbouring peaks — itself
“ as precipitous and as we saw them overlooking the circle
;
“ of desert-plain, hill, and valley, it was impossible not to feel

“ that for the giving of the Law to Israel and the world, the
“ scene was most truly fitted. 1 say for the giving oi the Law/
i
“ because the objections urged from the absence of any plain

“ immediately under the mountain for receiving the Law, are
“ unanswerable, or could only be answered if no such plain
“ existed elsewhere in the peninsula.”
The whole district is full of remains of the greatest interest,
and three or four days may well and profitably be devoted to
its exploration.
Continuing the road to Sinai, before the end of Wadi Firan
is reached, note should be taken of Jebel al = Munayah, i.e .,
;
SUEZ TO SINAI VIA TUR. 557
the “ Mountain of the Conference ”; here tradition declares

God held converse with Moses. On this mountain the Arabs
still offer sacrifices to Moses. At Al-Buweb the Wadi Firan
ends. From this point the least difficult road is by the Wadi
ash-Sh£kh, where manna is found, but the more convenient
road passes through Wadi Salaf and Nakb al-Hawi. In the
Wadi Salaf are to be seen numbers of the small stone houses,
like beehives, which the Arabs declare to have been built by
the Israelites, who took shelter in them from the mosquitoes
which infested the peninsula ; they are called nawdniis (sing,
namis). The Arabic word for mosquito is namus . About
six miles further on, at Wadi ‘Ajjawi, the road joins that
which leads to Mount Sinai from Tftr, the port on the Red
Sea. At the end of Wadi Salaf is Nakb al-Hawi, i.e., the
“ Cleft of the Wind.” This is one of the grandest passes on
earth, and forms a fitting gateway to the awful heights of Sinai.
“It is a narrow and precipitous passage through lofty granite
“ mountains rising to the height of 1,500 feet, while large
“ masses of rock on either side seem ready to fall on the
“ adventurous traveller.” Passing through Wadi ar-Raha
the mountains of Sinai are seen in full view; the Wadi
ad-Der is next entered, and in a short time the traveller
arrives at the Monastery of St. Catherine. At the
entrance to this Wadi, which is also called Shu‘aib, is Jebel
Harun, where tradition says Aaron set up the golden calf
and since tradition connects this valley with Jethro, the Well
of Jethro is pointed out. Close by is the magnificent peak
of Jebel Musa, and to the west is Jebel as=Safsafa, or
Ras as-Safsaf, from which the Law is said to have been given
to the Israelites assembled in the plain of Ar-Rahah.
2. Suez to the Monastery of St. Catherine,

via Tur.
The journey to Mount Sinai may be made partly by sea,
and if be decided to follow this route a large boat with a
it
crew must be hired at Suez; the traveller having embarked with

his baggage at Suez, sail is set for Ttir, or Tor, on the western
side of the peninsula, some 120 miles down the Red Sea. An
agreement must be made carefully with the owner or captain of
the boat as to the amount of hire, etc., so that there may be no
misunderstanding on this point during the journey ; in cases
where no definite agreement has been made captains have, when
at sea, demanded exorbitant sums for the hire of their services
—
558 THE BELL MOUNTAIN.
and boat, and have refused to proceed until their victims have
handed over the money. The start should be made in the
afternoon, and the journey to Tur occupies practically a day.
At Tur camels must be hired for the journey through the desert.
There is no difficulty in obtaining them, but if the traveller can
obtain introductions to the shekh he should do so, for the
animals placed at his disposal will then be better than usual.
A few years ago Tur was a wretched little hamlet, consisting of
a few fishermen’s huts, but in ancient days it must have been a
seaport town of very considerable importance, and most of the
sea-borne goods intended for the monks and recluses must have
entered Sinai by this port. It is now the great quarantine
station for pilgrims to Mecca, and soldiers are maintained here
to enforce the rules and regulations of the Quarantine Board.
The arrival of the pilgrims brings in its train “ merchants ”
from Cairo, and then Tur has somewhat the appearance of a
desert market, but their wares are chiefly modern and are
uninteresting. There is nothing of importance to see at Tfir.
Close by is Jebel Hammam Musa, i.'e., the Mountain of the
Bath of Moses, where are hot sulphur springs, which trickle
down by various canals into the midst of a large palm grove
belonging to the Monastery of St. Catherine. A number of
chambers similar to those of a Turkish bath have been built
over them, and these are much frequented by natives suffering
from diseases incidental to residence in a very hot climate.
About 12 miles from Ttir is a sand-slope from the mountain
called Jebel Nakus, i.e., the “Bell Mountain,” because loud
and mysterious noises are heard to proceed from it. (The
nakus is really a board which is beaten in monasteries to call
the monks to prayer, and not a bell.) This slope is 195 feet
high, and 240 at the base; the sand is of a yellowish-brown
colour, and lies at such an angle that the slightest cause sets it
in motion. When any considerable quantity of sand rolls
down, a deep, swelling, vibratory moan is heard, which gradually
rises to a dull roar, loud enough when at its height to be almost
startling ;
as the sand ceases to roll the sound dies away. Some
think the sound is caused by the movement of the surface sand,
others say it is due to the movement of the sand over hollow
rocks, or its falling into cavities, and the Arabs explain
from
the sound a characteristic legend which is given in the
in
Ordnance Survey, p. 69, as follows :
“ ABedawi who was encamped at Abu Suweirah on the sea

“ coast near Tor, as he walked along the shore found himself
MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE. 559
“ unexpectedly before a small convent, situated in a pleasant

“ garden and inhabited by seven monks. They invited him to
“ enter their abode, and entertained him with a hospitable
“ meal, enjoining him at the same time not to inform a living
“ soul of what he had seen or heard. As they conducted him
“ back towards his tents he took the opportunity of dropping
“ the stones of some dates that he was eating, in order that he
“ might be able again to recognise the path. On regaining his
“ encampment he, notwithstanding the promise which he had
“ made, revealed the secret of the monastery and proposed an
“ attack upon his entertainers. No one could be found to
“ believe his story, and when he offered to conduct them to the
“ spot, he found that the monks had become aware of his
“ intentions, and had carefully removed the date stones which
“ were to have served him as a clue to guide him to their
“ dwelling. Arrived at Jebel Nagus, however, he recognised
“ the spot, but neither convent, garden, nor monks were to be
“ seen. They had mysteriously disappeared beneath the
“ground, but from the heart of the mountain could still be
“ heard the sound of their nagus or wooden gong, calling the
,
“ brethren to prayers. The Arab who had thus broken his

“ oath and violated the sacred claims of ‘bread and salt was ’
“ repudiated by the rest of his tribe as a liar and deceiver, and

“ perished miserably in solitude and want.”
The desert journey to Mount Sinai from Tur may be now
briefly described. The plain of A1 - Ka‘a is first crossed, and
then the Wadi as = Sle is entered; passing through Wadi
Tarfa, Wadi Rahabah, and Wadi Sabafiyah, and thence by a
pass, the Wadi ad-Der, wherein the Monastery is situated, is
entered. The journey may be made in two or three days, but
it is uninteresting, and there is nothing of importance to be seen
on the way. Another route, via Wadi Habran, may be
taken ;
this joins the road to Sinai, via Magharah at Nakb
and before this point
ai-‘Ajjawi, is reached numerous inscriptions
are seen on the rocks.
3 . The Monastery of St. Catherine and the Holy

Places of Sinai.
The Monastery of St. Catherine stands on the left
bank of the narrow valley which lies between Jebel Mtisa and
Jebel ad-Der, and it encloses the spot where Moses saw the
Burning Bush, and the chapel and tower built by Helena*
The old walls are built of well-dressed blocks of granite, and
560 MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE.
stillform a solid foundation for the modern walls built upon

them. The east wall was almost rebuilt in 1799-1800 by
General Kl£ber, and this fact is commemorated by a tablet
with an inscription in modern Greek. The old entrance is on
the north side, but its door, 7 feet wide, has been walled up ;
Survey.)
Ordnance
the
(From
Catherine.
St.
of
Monastery
the
of
Plan
MONASTERY /OF SAINT CATHERINE.
1830.)
Paris,
Musa.
Jebel
Linant,
on
and
Catherine
Laborde
St.
by
ol
Pdtree^
Monastery
Arabie
the
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of de
View Voyage
(From
2 N
562 MONASTERY OF SAINT CATHERINE.
from the reign of this Emperor. A portion of it improbably

of earlier ..date, tower of the south-west corner of the
for the v ;
church is said to have been a separate building, with its own

entrance. This building may have been Helena’s towpr//itit
some regard it as the fort which Justinian built there before
the church.
Transfiguration.
the
of
Church
the
in
Mosaic
the
of
Sketch
The Church of the Transfiguration is divided into a

nave and two aisles by two rows of columns, and at the eastern
end of the nave is a large apse, on the vault of which is the well-
known mosaic. In the centre of the mosaic is Christ ; on His
right is Elijah, on His left Moses, at His feet Peter, and James
CHAPEL OF THE BURNING BUSH. 563
and John kneel one on each side. Round the whole are
mosaic portraits of saints and prophets, each with his name in
Greek below his effigy. Above the apse are scenes of Moses
at the Burning Bush, and Moses receiving the Law on Mount
Sinai ;
below are two angels, and two medallions with portraits
which some declare to be those of Justinian and Theodora, and
others of Moses and St. Catherine. The Bishop’s throne is
modern, but the bronze lions which are near the screen are
ancient. On the north are chapels dedicated to Antipas, Con-
stantine and Helena, and Marina; on the south to Cosmas,
Damian, Pantalewon, Simon the Pillar-Saint, and Joachim and
St. Anne. The granite columns are heavy in appearance and ;
each has a metal cross let into it 2 feet above its base. Close
to the altar are the relics of St. Catherine, whom one
legend declares to have been the daughter of Moses !When
Professor Palmer visited the monastery he thought that in
spite of its massive walls it was ill adapted to resist a deter-
mined attack, for it was commanded from both sides of the
valley he entered by a small wicket gate of massive iron, and
;
not by the wicket, covered by a pent-house, 30 feet from the

ground, through which travellers were formerly drawn up into
the building. The apartments for travellers he describes as
clean, and says they were furnished with a table in the centre
and cushions were on the diwans all round. They are now
provided with bedsteads.
The Chapel of the Burning Bush is at the east end
of the church, and Palmer tells us that the visitor before
entering it is requested to take his shoes from off his feet,
as the place whereon he is standing is holy ground. The
altar has on it a silver plate which is intended to indicate
that it stands on the very spot where the Bush stood. Over
the altar is. a little window through which it is said the
sunlight only penetrates one day in the year, and then a
solitary ray darts through a cleft in the mountain above
and falls upon the chapel floor. The cleft in the mountain
is marked by a wooden cross, and the Arabs call it therefore
Jebel es-Salib, or Mount of the Cross. Alegend says that

the original Book of Moses, which was written on stone, was
brought down by the monks from Sinai and built into the
wall of this chapel, and that this window was left where it is
so that the people might be able to look on the Book from
time to time. The people are said to believe that blessings
and curses can be brought upon the country by opening the
2 N 2
;
5 64 LIBRARY OF SAINT CATHERINE.
window in certain ways. Professor Palmer records that ‘Abbas

Pasha always prayed mosque
in this chapel instead of in the !
The Mosque has a mean and shabby appearance and is

said to have been built by the monks, who were alarmed on
hearing that the Arabs were bent on destroying their monastery,
and that an officer had been told to carry out this act of
sacrilege. When the Arab arrived he found the mosque
standing, and the monks declared that they possessed a charter
which had been given to them by Muhammad the Prophet
himself, and bore the impress of his hand, for as is well known,
he could neither read nor write. As a matter of fact the
mosque is not older than the fifteenth century.
The Library contains a very considerable number of manu-
scripts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Persian, Armenian,
etc., and the more valuable MSS. have now been removed to
a room near the Archbishop’s house, and into his own apart-
ments. The famous “ Codex Aureus,” /.<?., the Evangeliarium
Theodosianum, which is erroneously said to have been given
to the monastery by the Emperor Theodosius in the eighth
century, was written in the tenth or eleventh century ; the
leaves are of fine vellum, with two columns to a page, and the
writing is in gold. At the beginning, painted in gold, are
portraits of Christ, Mary, Peter, and the four Evangelists
(Cat. No. 204). Another interesting MS. is the Psalter,
which was once thought to have been written by Cassia, a
woman, in the ninth century ; it only consists of six leaves,
with two columns to the page. The writing is extremely
minute, and was produced by a scribe in the fourteenth or
fifteenth century (Cat. No. 108). It will be remembered that
the famous Codex Sinaiticus was obtained from this
Library. When Tischendorf was here in 1844 he picked
43 leaves of the Septuagint out from a basket of papers
destined to light the oven of the monastery, and these the
monks gave him. In 1853 he returned, and tried to obtain the
rest, but failed
;
in 1 859 he went back again, and on February 4th
of that year he was able to bring the MS. away from Cairo,
where it had been sent for his use, and it was taken to
St. Petersburg. The Emperor Alexander II purchased the MS.
from the monks for about ^320. The Codex Sinaiticus dates
from the second half of the fourth century ; it contains
346^ leaves of vellum, which measure 13^ inches by 14^ inches.
The Greek MSS. have been catalogued by V. Gardthausen
(Catalogus Codd. Graeco rum Sinaiticorum Oxford, 1886, 8vo)
,
—
SAINT CATHERINE. 5^5
the Syriac MSS. by A. S. Lewis ( Catalogue of the Syriac

MS S. Convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai Cam-
in the ,
bridge, 1894); and the Arabic by M. D. Gibson (Cambridge,

1894).
In the gardenis the Crypt where the monks are buried after
death. “ It is a curious and ghastly sight. The defunct

“ bishops are brought here and stowed away in what I at
“ first took for cigar boxes and a few hermits of unusual
;
“ sanctity are hung up in bags, like hams, against the wall.
“ There are two compartments in this mansion of the dead
“ one for the priests, the other for the lay brethren and seated
;
“ against the low, iron door which connects the two is a dried
“ and crouching figure, the mortal remains of a certain Saint
“ Stephanos, who was a porter at the convent some 300 years
“ ago. He sits there hideous mockery of his former
still, in
“ office; and, as if to make his appearance still more ghastly,
“ some Russian pilgrims have decked him out in a silk shirt
“ and gaudy skull-cap. In one of the boxes are the remains
“ of two hermits, sons of an Indian king, the legend says, who
“ lived and died upon the mountains, in adjoining cells. Their
“ skeletons are still connected by the chain which bound them
“ together in life, and which was so contrived that when one
“ lay down to rest his neighbour was dragged up to pray, so
“ that one of them was ever watchful at his post.”
The Arab servants of the monastery are descended from the
Wallachian and Egyptian slaves whom Justinian placed there
to guard the monks, who at that time regarded the church as
sacred to Mary the Virgin, and not St. Catherine these servants
;
are called Jebeliyah (i.e., “ mountaineers ”), and are to all

intents and purposes the serfs or vassals of the monks. In the
eighth or ninth century the monks disinterred a body of a
woman which they declared to be that of St. Catherine ; monks
and serfs alike transferred their allegiance to the victim of the
persecution of Maximinus, and the monastery has apparently
been called ever since by the name of the virgin Catherine,
whose body was broken on the wheel. She is commemorated
on November 25th in the Greek and Latin calendars, and the
festival of the finding of her body is celebrated on May 13th.
The monks believe that vast treasures are hidden in a chamber
below the building, the door of which is guarded by a
mysterious power which would kill any intruder ; they believe,
too, that the cross is their safeguard, and wear it as an amulet,
and encourage the natives to do the same.
;
566 JEBEL Ml)SA.
For travellers who are fond of climbing mountains, ascents

of Jebel Musa and Ras as = 5afsaf may be recommended.
Of the five routes possible the one which ascends the pilgrims’
steps may be chosen. The first place to note is the Well of
Jethro, whereat Moses watered the flocks of his father-in-law,
but the monks only regard it as the spring at which the cobbler
saint, Sangarius, drank when he lived here. Further up is the
Chapel of the Virgin, concerning which Professor Palmer
relates the following :
—
Once upon a time the supplies failed,
and our monks had nothing to eat. In addition to the famine,
a plague of fleas infested the monastery, and these were so
large in size and so great in numbers that the monks deter-
mined to leave the place. Before they went, however, they
marched up the mountain to pay a farewell visit to the top, and
as they filed out the steward remained behind to lock the
doors. Whilst he was there the Virgin and Child appeared
to him, and Mary bade him tell his companions to return, as
she would help them. The monks did so, and they found
100 camels laden with provisions, and not a flea was left ;
from that time no flea has ever been seen in the monastery.
At the top of the ravine is a splendid cypress tree, and near
it is the Chapel of Elfjah. A little higher up is a gateway,
and beyond it is a second gateway ; at each of these a friar sat
to hear the confessions of pilgrims, and to shrive them.
Beyond the second gate is a building containing two chapels,
one dedicated to Elijah, and the other to Elisha. Further up
the steps is a small plateau, on which is a camel’s footprint
tradition says the camel is that of Muhammad the Prophet,
who visited Sinai. “ The view from the summit [of J ebel Mtisa]
does not embrace so comprehensive a prospect of the peninsula
u as that from the more commanding peaks of Katarina, or
“ Serbal but the wild desolation of those majestic crags,
;
“ solitary ravines, and winding valleys, added to the solemn

“ and sacred associations of the scene, cannot fail to impress
“ the beholder with wonder and awe.” (Palmer, Desert of the
Exodus p. 109.)
,
The summit of Jebel Mtisa is about
7,400 feet above sea-level, and is about 2,000 feet above the
monastery. It is occupied by a chapel and a mosque, both
and outside the former, at the north-east corner,
built of granite,
is a rock containing a grotto, sufficiently large to admit of a
person creeping into it ; the upper side is indented with a mark
as of a man’s hand and head. Here it is said Moses received
the Law, and into this, the Arabs say, he crept when God said
THE CAVE OF MOSES. 567
unto him, “ Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt

“ stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass, while my glory
:
“ passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will
“ cover thee with my hand while I pass by : and I will take
“ away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back : but my face
“shall not be seen ” (Exodus xxxiii, 21-23). The mosque
is a square building, and is partially ruined ; only the mihrab ,
or niche, indicating the direction of Mecca, remains. Here
Moses is said to have dwelt for the 40 days of his sojourn on

the Mount. Once a year the Arabs sacrifice a sheep or a goat
on the top of the mountain to' Moses, and the doorway of the
mosque is stained with the blood of the victims. When the
year has been a fruitful one a camel is sacrificed to Aaron, at
the hill in the valley which bears his name. Jebel Musa is
not a single mountain, but a mountain block two miles long
and one mile wide, and at the other end of the block is Mount
5 68 ROCK OF HOREB.
Safsafa, t.e., Willow Mountain, which is about 6,600 feet

high. Between Musa and Safsif are a narrow ravine and a
plain, at the end of which is a chapel dedicated to the Holy
Belt of the Virgin Mary, and near it is the willow tree
which gives the name to the mountain ; from this tree Moses
cut his rod.
At the north-east corner of the mountain is the Sikkat
ShiPaib, or Jethro’s road, and a path through it leads to the
Hill of the Golden Calf. Following the road of the Russian
pilgrims the traveller descends into the WadiLeja ; Leja is
said to have been Jethro’s daughter. In this valley is the D&r
al-‘Arba‘in, or Monastery of the Forty [Martyrs], who were
by the Saracens round it is a fine garden with a grove of
slain ;
olive trees. In the middle of the garden is the Chapel of
St. Onuphrius. At the mouth of the valley is the Chapel

of the Twelve Apostles, and a little further on is shown the
spot where the earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
and their company. In this valley too is the Stone of Moses,
or the Rock of Horeb, from which Moses obtained water by
striking it with his rod. It is made of granite, and is several
feet high, and is said to have followed the Israelites about as
long as they were likely to need water, and then to have
returned to its place in this desert. Certain fissures in it have
been declared to be 12 mouths, each of which supplied water
for one tribe. It need hardly be pointed out that most of
these legends are due to the intense love of realism which is
inherent in the Arabs and other Oriental peoples.
Jebel Katarina, or Jebel Katarin, the highest peak but
— —
one Jebel Zabir in the peninsula, is a mountain which many
will wish to climb, but the ascent is difficult ; the interest in it
is purely legendary. It is said that the angels carried St.
Catherine’s body from Alexandria, over the Red Sea and desert,
and placed it on this mountain-top. The body was found by the
monks, who set out to bring it to their monastery, and they
were fainting from heat and thirst; at this moment a partridge
flew out from a well, and thus showed them where water was,
and from that time the well has been called Mayan ash-
Shunnar or Bir ash-Shunnar. The road starts in the
Wadi Leja, and passes through a ravine containing many
Sinaitic inscriptions, and, having passed the Partridge’s Well,
Mount Katarina is reached. This mountain has three peaks,
Jebel Katarina, Jebel Zabir, and Jebel Rumel ; the second is the
highest, 8,536 feet above sea level, and consists of one huge
SARABIT AL-KHADIM. 5 69
block of porphyry. To the north-east is Jebel Musa; on the

right are Jebel ad-Der and Ras as-Safsaf, beyond which is
Nakb al-Hawi. Westward are Jebel al-Banat, Al-Joza, and
Serbal. From this spot may be seen Jebel at-Tiniyah, with a
white edifice on its highest point. This is the half-finished
palace of ‘Abbas Pasha, who was ordered here for the benefit
of his health. He lived with the monks of St. Catherine
whilst his palace was being built, but before it was finished he
changed his mind, and decided to live in the great monastery.
He began to build the Pasha’s Road, but the Arabs say that
one day as he was going along it Moses met him and shook
him, and frightened him so much that he cursed Sinai and
everything in it, and departed to Egypt, where a few weeks
later he was murdered.
4. Mount Sinai to Suez via Wadi ash-Sh^kh and

Sarbtit al-Khadim, or Sarabit aDKhadim.
Taking the road towards the north, the traveller makes his
way along the W&di ad-Der, and after a few miles arrives at the
tomb of Sh£kh Salih, an early Muhammadan saint, and
“ companion of the Prophet ” he must have lived, therefore,
;
early in the seventh century. The tomb belongs to the T&warah

Arabs, and is visited by them alone it is a small, square, white-
;
washed building with a dome. The saint is buried in the ground,

and an empty wooden coffin stands above the grave ; round
about are hung the gifts of the faithful. The Shekh was a good
man, and worked miracles, and his tomb is the Mecca of Sinai.
Once a year, in May, the Arabs sacrifice sheep and camels at
the tomb, and sprinkle their blood on its walls the people
;
dance and run races, and funeral games of various kinds are
celebrated.
Continuing the route, the pass of Al-Watlyah is traversed,
and soon after the Wadi ash-Sh£kh is entered: crossing
numerous valleys, the route proceeds via W&di Solef, Widi
Berah, Wadi Lebwah, and Wadi Barak, which is long and
broad, and is enclosed by steep gneiss rocks. At the entrance of
this valley is a group of the “ mosquito huts ” already mentioned,
and soon after are seen the ruins of the fortifications which the
Arabs raised against Muhammad ‘Ali. The Wadi Sik is next
entered, and in a short time Dab&bat Sh£kh Ahmad
is
reached the tomb of the Shekh is seen by the side of the

;
road, and in the neighbourhood are several other tombs.

Traversing Wadi Khamilah, and descending into Wfidi
57 ° SARABIT AL-KHADIM.
*
Stele set up at Sarabit al-Khadim by an official of Amen-lietep III, J45? B c
- *
The King is making offerings to Hathor, the goddess of the district.

'seen
(From the Ordnance Survey Part III, PL I4-)
,
572 THE TURQUOISE AND COPPER MINES,
Suwik by a winding path, the traveller soon arrives at

Wadi Marattamah, near which is the famous Sarabit al =
Khadim.
To reach Sarabit al-Khadim a climb of about 700 feet up very
difficultroad must be made. “ A scramble over a rough slide
“ of loose sandstone at the upper end of the valley, a
“ treacherous sloping ledge of rock overhanging an awkward
“ precipice, and a steep ravine which brings into play all one’s
“ gymnastic capabilities, leads to an extensive plateau broken
“ up by many deep ravines and rising knolls.” On one of the
small peaks is a heap of ruins of walls made of sandstone, and
round about are broken columns and sandstone stelae, some
still in situ but the greater number have fallen down
,
all these
;
are enclosed by the ruins of an outer wall. In the reign of

Amen-hetep III a small rock-hewn sanctuary was made here,
and furnished with an ante-chamber, and Thothmes III
enlarged the building on the west, and added a small pylon,
with an outer court. Within the walls of these numerous stelae,
recording the lives and deeds of Egyptian officials, were set up,
and from time to time additions to the main building were made
by later kings. The temple was dedicated to Hathor, the lady
o f Mafkat, the “ land 0f
the turquoise,” who was also the presiding deity of Magharah ;

in were niches, intended to hold statues of the higher mining
it
officials and military officers, but these were all found to be

empty. The form under which this goddess was worshipped
was that of a cow, and the “ molten calf” which Aaron made
(Exodus xxxii, 4) for the Israelites to worship during the
absence of Moses was, no doubt, “ fashioned with a graving
tool ” into a resemblance of Hathor. The Israelites, in fact,
influenced by the prevailing local worship of Hathor, forced
Aaron to fall in with the custom of the natives of Sinai, and
gave him their gold ornaments to make the “molten calf.”
The walls were ornamented with painted reliefs, and traces
of the inscriptions which described them, and recorded the
titles of the king and the names of his gods, still remain.
The outer wall encloses a space about 175 feet long and 70 feet
broad, and there is reason for believing that a sanctuary stood
here for more than 1,300 years, i.e, from the Xllth to the
y
XXth dynasty, during which period the mines in the neigh-

bourhood were worked by the Pharaohs with more or less
regularity.
”
SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. 573
The mines were situated in the Wadi Nasb, and

between them and the temple the valley was occupied by
the miners and by the soldiers who guarded them. To
the east and west of the temple are mounds, one of which
is 500 feet long and 200 feet broad, covered with layers of
slag which vary in thickness from 1 2 feet at the base to 4 feet
at the tops ; this slag is not natural, and authorities are agreed
in thinking that it represents the remains of the smelting
operations which were carried on near the temple. Lepsius
thought that the place was chosen on account of the keen
draught of wind which is always blowing there, and which
would form an excellent blast for the smelting fires. As large
quantities of fuel would be required for smelting the copper
ore, we may assume that the neighbourhood was well wooded,
and that the country enjoyed a larger rainfall than at present.
About the meaning of the name “ Sarbut (plur. Sarabit)
al Khadim ” there is a difference of opinion. “ Sarbut
means “hill” no doubt, and “Khadim,” in Arabic,
means “ servant,” and so the name of the place has been

translated “ Hill of the servant.” Some colour is given to this
view by the statements of the Arabs, who affirm that the hill
obtains its name from the black statue of an official, or king,
which formerly stood there and was carried off by the French
during their occupation of Egypt. On the other hand, the
word “ Khadim ” may be the equivalent of the old Egyptian
“ ” ^ ^
khetem Q cru ,
a “fortress,” and if this be so
“ Sarbftt ”
may also be a form of one or more Egyptian words.
Leaving the mines the route is resumed in the Wadi Sftwik,
and eventually Wadi al = Homr is reached; this leads into
Wadi Shabekah, and in due course the traveller arrives at
Suez. In the brief descriptions of the places, etc., passed on the
roads to and from Sinai no attempt has been made either to
trace the course of the Israelites in their journey to Sinai, or to
identify their halting places. A mere statement of the opinions
of one authority or another would be misleading in most cases,
and the space available here is too limited to admit the intro-
duction of general arguments. On one point, however, it is
important to state a few facts, viz., the Sinaitic Inscriptions,
for the most extraordinary statements have been made about
them. According to the old traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes
(a.d. 536) they were written by the Hebrews themselves, in
574 SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.
the time of Moses, at the various stations in the desert at

which they halted, and he asserted that the letters were
identical with those with which the Tables of the Law were
written. In 1636 Athanasius Kircher wrote great nonsense
about them, and many other travellers, etc., described their
contents entirely after their own imagination. Copies were
made by Egmontvander Nyenburg (1 72 1), Pococke (1738), who
transcribed 86; Niebuhr (1766), VVortley Montagu (r.766),
Coutelle and Roziere (1799), Seetzen (1807), Burckhardt
(1812), Riippell (1817), Grey (1820), Henniker (1820), Laborde
(1828), Lord Prudhoe and Major Felix (1835), Laval (1850),
Frazer (1855), etc. In 1866 Professor E. H. Palmer copied
about 300 of the Sinaitic inscriptions, and in 1888 and 1889
M. G. Benedite, under the auspices of the French Academy,
copied about 2,400 inscriptions. This splendid material
has been published in Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum.
Pars II, Tom. 1, fasc. Ill, Paris, 1902, and it is now possible
to discuss the inscriptions as a whole. The first to attempt
the decipherment of the Sinaitic inscriptions was E. F. F. Beer
in 1840, who declared them to be the work of the Nabateans ;
he was followed by Tuch in 1848, Lenormant in 1859, Levy
in i860, and J. Euting in 1891, who published and translated
about 600 inscriptions. The labours of these scholars have
proved that the translations made by C. Forster and Samuel
Sharpe in 1875 w ^re the result of guesses, and that they were
utter nonsense. The Sinaitic inscriptions are funereal
in character, whether they be found in Petra or Arabia ;
they
are quite short, and merely record the names of deceased
persons, with exclamations, thus
—
“ Peace, ‘Abdaharatat the
:
“ Eparch, and Garmu his servant ” (No. 790); “May ‘Amru

“ the son of Ashbatu be eternally remembered for good ”
(No. 788); “Peace, ‘Ammayu, the son of Harishu, priest of
“ ‘Uzzia” (No. The inscriptions are cut in the rocks in
611).
letters of different sizes, some being only 1 inch in height, and
others 13 inches ; they have all the appearance of having been
cut in a hurry, for the forms of the letters are often very
careless. In fact, most of them commemorate persons who
died when travelling, and were buried by their friends in a
hurry. The language in which they are written is Nabatean,
i.e., Aramean, with an admixture of Arabic words ; the writers
were Pagans, and they worshipped various Semitic gods, one

being Dushra (?), but among 2,000 texts scarcely 20 mention
a god’s name. Though the inscriptions are so numerous, the
—
SINAITJC INSCRIPTIONS. 575
men who wrote them were few, in fact, barely four generations ;
and it is now
believed that all the texts were cut in the rocks
in the second and third centuries of our era by the Nabateans,
who were masters of the Peninsula of Sinai at that time, not in
fulfilment of a pious desire, and not as an act of worship. The
following are three of the Sinaitic inscriptions, with transcrip-
tions into Hebrew letters, and an alphabet :
Inscription for Wa’ilu and Others.
(/Id/j i
Y) /'ll V “
.//n IP
Ml p^-T
nm iS
"in w
min ^n n
nan ten
“ May be remembered Wa’ilu and Harisu, and ‘Oyaidu,
“ t.he sons of Abu-Aushu for good ” !
(No. 812.)
Inscription for Faridu.
Txfe J\AL)
in in ms abof
mpna m
m^n mn
nw in
“ Peace ! Faridu, the son of Wa’ilu, the son, of Sa‘idat,
“ who is called the free man Kalbu.”
(No. 1296a.)
1
576 SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.
Greek and Nabatean Inscription for Aushu.
'f
Mnhc9 HA YCDC [nor
KA A T A 0 YM A B«-
I 1
. ^ J|L „
“
nun mis inn “in tcnM tote
May Aushu, the son of Hirshu, the
son be remembered
of Turiyu, for good.”
MNHCGH AYCOC EPCOY
KAAITAI OYMAPOY
E[N ATAGOIC] (No. 1044.)
Nabatean Alphabet.
&
S\ N \
n KH J/ r
i 3 P
3 B
6 !
L T 3
Y s
53 ) J*
5?
3 G
K / P K
n 1
n
D
H J^>
5
5 L 1
1 R
S
a M /
5
\V a « T
3 N iiJ]
7 Z j
1
D S
JE>
577
XI.— THE EXODUS.

The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is a subject of
general interest, and, with special reference to the account
of the holy places of Sinai, it may be well to refer briefly
to the principal views on the subject. The facts of Egyptian
history show that a vast number of people, probably Semites,
were expelled from the Delta about 1700 b.c., and the process
of expulsion went on under the reigns of the first three or
four kings of the XVIIIth dynasty; this being so, there must
have been on several occasions an exodus of Semites, or at
least of Canaanites, from Egypt. Traditions of these expul-
sions must have lingered among the Canaanitish tribes of
Palestine, and when the Hebrews had occupied the country,
their annalists incorporated them in their accounts of the
emigration of their own ancestors from Egypt. Even Egyptian
writers confused the traditions of two distinct events, ue. the}
Expulsion of the Hyksos, for which they had historical docu-

ments as proof, and the Exodus of the Israelites, which was
not mentioned on their monuments, and of which they, if we
may trust the narrative of Josephus, possessed a confused
legend. It is therefore very probable that similarly in the
Hebrew narrative of the Exodus we have a faint reminiscence
of the expulsion of the Hyksos, as well as a strange tradition
of the events which accompanied their own Emigration from
the land of Goshen.
The view that the Exodus took place under Amen-betep III,
as Josephus suggested, is untenable, but it is very probable
that the Israelitish emigration really took place under
Menephthah, whose name was easily confused with Amen-
hetep. Many Egyptologists hold this view, and believe that
Menephthah isthe Pharaoh of the Exodus, just as Rameses II
is the Pharaoh of the oppression of the Israelites, and that the
Exodus took place about 1270 b.c., some 400 years after the
expulsion of the Hyksos. In Exodus i, 11-14, we read that
the Egyptians made the lives of the Israelites “bitter with
“ hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of
“ service in the field : all their service, wherein they made
“ them serve, was with rigour. Therefore they did set over
“ them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And
2 o
— i
578 OPPRESSION OF THE ISRAELITES.
“ they built forPharaoh * treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.”

We touch firm ground in the statement that the Israelites
built “ for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses,” for
the names of these cities are well known from the hieroglyphic
inscriptions, and their sites have been satisfactorily identified
by Professor Naville. Pithom is the city which the Egyptians
called Pa-Atem, i.e., the “ House of the god Atem,” its site
being marked by the ruins called “Tell al-Maskhutah,” at the
eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat, and Raamses is none other
than Tanis, the Zoan of the Bible, and the San of Arabic
writers. When Rameses II came to the throne he continued
at Tanis the great work which his father had begun ; he
repaired or rebuilt parts of the walls and temples, he
strengthened its defences, and he either founded or refounded
a temple in honour of the gods Amen, Ptah, Harmachis, and
Sutekh. He usurped large numbers of statues and monuments
which had been made by the kings his predecessors, and
during his lifetime at least the whole city was spoken of as
“ Pa-Ramessu,” l.e., “ the house of Rameses.” Rameses II was
the builder king par excellence and he scrupled not to compel
,
the alien peoples settled in the Delta to join the corvee of

the day.
In Exodus v, 6-14, we read that “Pharaoh commanded the
“ taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, Ye shall
“ no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore :
“ let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale
“ of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay
“ upon them ye shall not diminish ought thereof for they :
;
“ be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice

“ to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men,
“ that they may labour therein and let them not regard vain
:
“ words. ... So the people were scattered abroad throughout

“ all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
“ And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works,
“ your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers
“ of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set
“ over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye
“ not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and
“ to-day, as heretofore ? ” When we remember that Rameses II
1
——
* A title meaning “ Great House,” in Egyptian Per-d ,
compare
he Sultan’s title,“Sublime Porte.” The idea in each case is that the
monarch is the house in which all men live, or the “ asylum of the universe.”
EGYPT AND SINAI. 579
built a wall from Memphis to Pelusium to keep out of Egypt

the hordes of nomad Semites who infested the Eastern Desert,
and that he dug the great canal which joined the Nile and the
Red Sea, to say nothing of the great building operations which
he carried out in stone, there seems to be no reason to
doubt that the passage quoted above accurately describes
the miserable conditions of the Israelites in the Delta under
Rameses the Great. On the other hand, the narrative in
Exodus gives us to understand that the oppression of the
Israelites took place after Joseph’s death, and because another
Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, sat on the throne of Egypt.
But the name of Joseph’s wife, Asenath, and that of her father,
Potipherah, and Joseph’s title Zaphnath-Paaneah, all belong to
a period which falls about 250 years after the Exodus, which
probably took place under Menephthah, and we are therefore
driven to the conclusion that the first few verses of the Book
of Exodus and Genesis xli, 45, belong to a much later period
than the story of the Exodus given in the Bible. These
passages and the early chapters of the Book of Exodus were,
in their original forms, the work of a writer who possessed
accurate local knowledge of the Eastern Delta, and the
assigning of late names to Joseph’s wife and her father is the
work of a later edition. It must never be forgotten that there
is no mention whatsoever in the Egyptian inscriptions of an
exodus of Israelites, and up to the present no monument of

any kind has been found which can be said truthfully to refer
in any way to their sojourn in Egypt. No surprise need be
felt at this, for it was not the custom of Egyptian kings to
commemorate the deeds of the peoples who were subject to
them. That a great exodus of Israelites from Egypt took
place cannot be doubted, but it is equally beyond doubt that
the story of it in its present form is the work of one whose
knowledge of the sequence of events was incomplete.
The date of the Exodus and the route which was followed
by the children of Israel on their departure from Egypt have
given rise to endless discussions and theories, none of which,
however, explain away the difficulties of the Bible narrative.
The exodus may have taken place 1270 b.c., 1314 b.c.,
or 1335 b.c, but the all-important fact to be considered is
that, speaking historically, it could only have happened on
the scale described in the Book of Exodus, in the reign of
Menephthah during the period of the rising of the Libyans
and others against the Egyptian power. As for the route
202
580 THE ROUTE OF THE ISRAELITES.
they followed, the Israelites, we know, were living in Goshen,

ix. y in that portion of the Delta and of the Wadi Tumilat
which has Zakazik on the north, Belbes on the south, and
the modern Tell al-Kabir on the east ; and we know that
they set out from the Wadi Tumilat. When they did so, two
ways were open to them. They could either go into Syria by
way of Tanis, or they could go eastwards through the district
of Rameses, and so make their way to the northern end of the
Red Sea, which it is supposed reached nearly as far as the
modern town of Ismafiliyah. Some think that having arrived
at Succoth, the Egyptian Thukut, they passed into the desert
at Etham, and then turned to the north, whilst others think
that they turned to the south. The Bible narrative says they
went to the south, in obedience to the command, “ Turn and
“ encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over
77
“against Baal-zephon (Exodus xiv, 2). These frontier towns
or fortresses were, no doubt, well known at the time when the
narrative was written, but they cannot now be identified with
certainty. If the Israelites marched southwards, three ways
were open to them to cross into the desert. The first way
passed between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes, the second
lay to the south of the Bitter Lakes, and the third way was
quite close to the modern town of Suez. The late Dr. Brugsch
put forward a theory of the route of the Exodus which made
the Israelites to pass through the Field of Zoan, and by the
fortresses of Etham, Migdol, near Pelusium, the great Sirbonian
Bog, and Pi-hahiroth, and so into Syria. The great drawback
to this theory is the extreme improbability that the Israelites
would have ventured to march straight into the line of strong
Egyptian fortresses which had been built on the eastern frontier
of the Delta, and which clearly it was to their interest to avoid.
Moreover, we know that Etham and Migdol were common
r
terms for “fortress and there must have been several Ethams
77
,
and Migdols between Goshen and Syria.

Taken together the known facts indicate that the Israelites
made their way into the desert by the nearest route possible,
and that route probably lay through some part of the country
now occupied by the modern Lake Timsah, which is relatively
close to the eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat. The narrative
of the Book of Exodus calls the water which the Israelites
crossed the “Yam Suph a name
77 77
i.e ., the “sea of reeds
, ,
which w ould never have been given to the sea in general and
;
;
there is no doubt that they called the w>ater by that name

EGYPT. 58t
because it was of considerable extent, and because it contained

reeds. The identification of the “ sea of reeds ” with the Red
Sea was made by someone who knew nothing about the
geography of the Isthmus of Suez, but knowing that the
Israelites had passed over a vast stretch of water, he assumed
that that water must be the Red Sea. The views on the
subject of Goshen and the route of the Exodus which Professor
Naville has enunciated deserve careful attention, for they are
based on first-hand knowledge derived from the results of the
excavations which he made in the Wadi Ttimilat, where he
discovered the remains of the store city of Pithom. He has
treated the subject of the Exodus and the identifications of the
cities mentioned common sense and
in the Bible narrative with
moderation. In the present state of Egyptological knowledge
it is impossible to “ settle ” the difficulties which beset the
Exodus question, but the present writer, who has gone over
the routes proposed both by Professor Naville and Sir William
Dawson, thinks that, if the matter is to be considered from a
practical standpoint, the only possible way for the Israelites to
escape quickly into the Etham desert was by a passage across
some portion of the ground which is now covered by Lake
Timsah. Recent investigations into the geography of the
Eastern Frontier of Egypt suggest that the region at the
northern end of the Gulf of Suez has changed very considerably
since the early centuries of the Christian Era, and that it is
impossible to identify satisfactorily all the sites mentioned in
the Book of Exodus in connection with the departure of the
Israelites from Egypt. It seems, however, to be generally
admitted that the Gulf of Suez extended farther to the north
than it does to-day, and some think that the sea reached nearly
as far as the northern end of Lake Timsah.
PART III.
SECTION. PAGE
I. — Cairo to the Fayyum 583
II. — The Fayytim 586
III. — Fayyum Luxor to 591
IV. — The Temples and Tombs of Thebes 618
V, — Luxor Aswan
to ... 708
5«3
UPPER EGYPT.
I. CAIRO TO THE FAYYUM.
The journey from Cairo to Aswan, if the traveller be disposed
to proceed thither direct, occupies between 22 and 23 hours;
the distance from Cairo to Luxor is 420, and from Luxor to
Aswan is 130 miles. The ordinary gauge is used from Cairo
to Luxor, and a narrower gauge from Luxor to Aswan this
;
necessitates change of carriage at Luxor.

After leaving Cairo the first station passed is Gizah, with
16,487 inhabitants, the capital of the province of that name;
the next station is Hawamdiyah, with 3,161 inhabitants.
Badrashen, at mile with 6,623 inhabitants, is the stopping
r
4,
place for visitors to Sakkarah ; having passed Maz‘unah, the
little village of Al=‘Ayat is reached at mile 31. Near the
village of Matanfyah, with 3,000 inhabitants, are the
Pyramids of Lisht, where Amenemhat I and Usertsen I,
kings of the Xllth dynasty, built their tombs. In 1908-9 a
series of excavations were carried on here by Mr. Winlock for
the Museum of New York. The northern pyramid and the
funerary temple were cleared, and large numbers of fine
coloured reliefs were discovered during the course of the work.
The next station is Kafr ‘Ammar, with 6,225 inhabitants,
at mile 46. Rikkah, with 2,157 inhabitants, the next station,
is the stopping place for visitors to the Pyramid and Mastabah
tombs of Medum. In the winter of 1909-10 Professor

Petrie excavated a number of tombs at Medum, which he
describes as follows:
—
“The mound over the tomb No. 17
“ was mined through to a depth of
45 feet. At the bottom
“ was found a closed stone building, which had been com-
“ pleteiy buried beneath the mound, without leaving any
“ external opening. The burial had, therefore, taken place
“ before the mound was thrown up, and as the material of the
“ mound was clearly from the mason’s waste left in building
“ the pyramid adjacent, the burial must have been made
“ before the date of the Pyramid of Sneferu, 4650 b.c. This
“was the earliest private stone tomb that could be dated.
“ The passages were lofty, and the great chamber was roofed
“ with beams of stone which weighed up to 40 tons each. In
5 §4 TOMBS AT MEPUM,
“ a recess at the end of the hall stood the sarcophagus of red

“ granite, the oldest stone sarcophagus known. The burial
“ was of the greatest interest, as it showed that the body
“was completely unfleshed before it was wrapped in linen.
“ The bones had been completely stripped and severed,
“ excepting that the spine was not dissevered. Each bone was
“ then wrapped separately in fine linen, the spine was packed
“ closely with linen, and linen was pressed into the empty eye
“sockets. The skull, which was found with the rest of the
“ bones, as compared with the usual Egyptian heads, was large,
“ with narrow face, extremely orthognathous, and very narrow
“nose. The neighbouring tomb of the noble Nefer-maat was
“ the largest of all, the size being 380 feet by 206 feet. The
“body of it was of Nile mud. A pit 34 feet square had been
“sunk in the rock, 5 feet of mud had been poured into it and
“ left to harden, then the stone chamber had been built
“ upon that, and heaped over and around with large blocks of
“ stone. This arrangement was unique, as also was the inlaid
“'colour decoration of the tomb-chapel. The burial of Nefer-
“ maat again proved to have been an unfleshed skeleton. It
“ was in bad condition, as the last workmen before closing the
“ chamber had rifled the body and broken up the wooden
“ coffin. 7’
The pyramid of Medum, called by the Arabs Al-Haram

al-Kaddab or “the False Pyramid,” is so named
,
because it is unlike any of the other pyram ids known to

them it was probably built by Seneferu,
;
(ii
the first king of the IVth dynasty, for the name of this king is
found at various places in and about it. The pyramid is about
1
15 feet high, and consists of three stages; the first is 70, the
second 20, and the third about 25 feet high. The stone for
this building was brought from the Mukattam Hills, but it was
never finished as in all other pyramids, the entrance is on the
;
north side. When opened in modern times the sarcophagus

chamber was found empty, and it would seem that this pyramid
had been entered and rifled in ancient days. It was opened by
Professor Maspero in 1881, and 10 years later was examined by
Professor Petrie. On the north of this pyramid are a number of
mastabahs in which “ royal relatives of Seneferu are buried the
77
;
most interesting of these are the tombs of Nefermaat, one of his

>
V-
<
feudal chiefs ( Tr
a n —
erpa ha), and of Atet his widow.
1;
AL-WASTAH. 585
The reliefs and paintings in the tomb of Ra-hetep are very

good. The sculptures and general style of the work are similar
to those found in the mastabahs of Sakkarah,
Opposite Rikkah is Atfih, with 3,360 inhabitants, which

marks the siteof the ancient Egyptian city of Tep-ahet, the
Aphroditopolis of the Greeks, who regarded it as one of the
chief cities of the Heptanomis. The deity of the town was
a form of Hathor, incarnate in a cow. About mile 57,
Al = Wastah, with 2,644 inhabitants, is reached, and passengers
usually change here for the Fayyum.
The stations on the line to Madinat al-Fayyum are Selah, #
with 3,635 inhabitants, 1 3*4 kilometres from Madinat al-Fayyum
‘Adwah, with 2,960 inhabitants, 77 kilometres from Madinat
al-Fayyum, and Al = Maslub, with 3,482 inhabitants, 4 kilo-
metres from Madinat al = Fay yum, the capital of the Province
of the Fayyum, with 37,320 inhabitants, 129*3 kilometres from
Cairo. The main line runs on to AbMandarah, with 1,81
inhabitants, and then to Sinaru, with 7,890 inhabitants,
n*3 kilometres from the capital; the branch to Biyamu,
with 3,812 inhabitants, then to the terminus, Sannures, with
17,106 inhabitants, 12 kilometres from Madinat al-Fayyum.
During recent years Mr. H. W. Seton-Karr has discovered in
the western desert, a little to the north of the Fayyum, the
remains of a Neolithic settlement, and in the Province of the
Fayyum itself he has found large numbers of flints belonging to
the Neolithic Period, These include disks about 10 centm. in
diameter, scrapers, like the Palaeolithic “racloir,” and two types
peculiar to the Fayyum. The first type is a rough, irregularly-
shaped flat knife, pointed at both ends, and the second is a
round, or oval, flat knife, with a concave edge. {Report US.
,
Nat. Hist. Museum , 1904, pp. 745-751.)

* For an account of the Pyramid of Selah and its examination by
Dr. Berchardt in 1898, see Annales du Service , Cairo, 1900, p. 21 1.
— )
5 86
II.— THE‘ FAYYOM.

Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son have arranged Eight=day and Six=day
Excursions to the Fayyum on camels, camping out each night in the
desert, and returning from Madinat al-Fayyum, the chief town of the
province, by train. The route is as follows :
—
First Day . Start from Gizah Pyramids for Sakkarah and Dahshur.
(Camp.)
Second Day. — To Umm al-Dtal. (Camp.)
—
Third Day. To Tamiyah. (Camp.)
Fourth Day. — To Lake Karun, (Camp.)
Fifth Day — Sail on Lake Karun, and ride
. Sannures. (Camp. to
Sixth Day — At Sannures and ride
. Madinat al-Fayyum.
to
Seventh Day. — Ride Hawarah and Lahun and back.
to
Eighth Day. — Train from Madinat al-Fayyum to Cairo.
The Six-day Excursion reaches Lake Karun on the second day, but to do
must ride from eight to ten hours each day this entails
this the traveller ;
considerable fatigue and is not recommended for ladies. Beyond Lake

Karun the Itineraries are identical.
Information as to fares, days of starting, etc., may be obtained from the
Cairo office, or any office of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son.
The line from Wastah runs westwards, and its terminus is at
Madinat al = Fayytim, a large Egyptian town situated a little
distance from the site of Arsinoe in the Heptanomis, called

Crocodilopolis by the Greeks, because the crocodile was here
worshipped. The city was one of great importance under
Ptolemy II, and it became virtually the Greek capital of Upper
Egypt, and was actually regarded as a nome. The Egyptians
called theFayyum Ta-she “the lake district,” and
the name Fayyum is the Arabic form of the Coptic Phiom,
“the water.” The Fayyum district has an area of about
850 square miles, and is watered by a branch of the Nile
called the Bahr-Yusuf, which flows into it through the Libyan
mountains. On the west of it lies the Birkat al = Kurun.

This now fertile land is thought to have been reclaimed from
the desert by Amenemhat III, a king of the Xllth dynasty.
The Birkat al-Kurhn is formed by a deep depression in the
desert scooped out of the Parisian limestone, which has become
covered in great part by thick belts of salted loams and marls.
On these Nile mud has been deposited. The Birkat al-Kurun
is all that is left of the ancient Lake Moeris, and its water
surface is about 130 feet below sea level. Its cubic contents
are estimated at 1,500,000,000 of cubic metres.
According to Pliny (v, 9), Lake Moeris was 250 miles
LAKE MOERIS. 5^7
(Mucianus says 450 miles) in circumference, and 50 paces

deep ; and its functions are thus described by Strabo (xvii, 1,
“ The Lake Moeris, by its magnitude and depth, is able
§ 37):
“ to sustain the superabundance of water which flows into it at

“ the time of the rise of the river, without overflowing the
“ inhabited and cultivated parts of the country. On the
“ decrease of the water of the river, it distributes the excess by
“ the same canal at each of the mouths and both the lake
;
“ and the canal preserve a remainder, which is used for
“ irrigation. These are the natural and independent properties
“ of the lake, but in addition, on both mouths of the canal are
“ placed locks, by which the engineers store up and distribute
“ the water which enters or issues from the canal ” The
Bahr-Yfisuf is said by some to have been excavated under the
direction of the patriarch Joseph, but there is no satisfactory
evidence for this theory strictly speaking, it is an arm of the
;
Nile, which has always needed cleaning out from time to

time, and the Yusuf, or Joseph, after whom it is named, was
some Muhammadan ruler of Egypt. Herodotus says (ii, 149)
of Lake Moeris, “The water in this lake does not spring
“ from the soil, for these parts are excessively dry, but it is
“ conveyed through a channel from the Nile, and for six
“ months it flows into the lake, and six months out again into
“ the Nile. And during the six months that it flows out it
“ yields a talent of silver (^240) every day to the king's
“ treasury from the fish but when the water is flowing into
;
“ it, twenty rninae (^80)." That Lake Moeris was believed
to have been artificially constructed is evident from the
writings of many ancient writers, and Herodotus says, “ That
“it is made and dry, this circumstance proves, for about
“ the middle of the lake stand two pyramids, each rising
“50 orgyae above the surface of the water, and the part built
“ under water extends to an equal depth on each of these is
;
“ placed a stone statue, seated on a throne." The pyramids

here referred to can be no other than the pedestals of two
large sandstone statues of Amen-em-hat III, which were set
up either close by or in Lake Moeris remains of these were
;
found at Biyamu, with 3,812 inhabitants, by Dr. Lepsius, and

later by Professor Petrie also. On the other hand, it has
been proved recently by Sir H. Brown that there never was a
Lake Moeris, and that what Herodotus saw and thought was
a lake, was merely the Nile-flood, the “containing walls of the
lake ” being only the dykes which separated the basins from
—
5 88 THE LABYRINTH.
each other. Thus, it seems, we must give up our belief in

the existence of Lake Moeris.
The Pyramid of Hawarah, about five miles from Madinat
al-Fayyum, was the tomb of Amen-em-hat III, and his daughter
Ptah-nefert it is built of sun-dried bricks, and even now is of
;
considerable size. It was entered in 1890 on the south side by

Professor Petrie, who discovered the mummy chamber the
;
remains of what must have been the funerary temple were

also found near the entrance. The Labyrinth stood on the
banks of Lake Moeris, and some have identified the ruins
of the funerary temple of Amen-em-hat with it. Strabo
(xvii, 8, §37) declared that the tomb of the king who built the
Labyrinth was near it, and describes it thus “ After proceeding
:
“ beyond the first entrance of the canal about 30 or 40 stadia,

“ there is a table-shaped plain, with a village and a large palace
“ composed of as many palaces as there were formerly nomes.
“ There are an equal number of aulae, surrounded by pillars,
“ and contiguous to one another, all in one line, and forming
“ one building, like a long wall having the aulae in front of it.
“ The entrances into the aulae are opposite to the wall. In
“ front of the entrances there are long and numerous covered
“ ways, with winding passages communicating with each other,
“ so that no stranger could find his way into the aulae or out of
“ them without a guide. The surprising circumstance is that
“ the roofs of these dwellings consist of a single stone each,
“ and that the covered ways through their whole range were
“ roofed in the same manner with single slabs of stone of
“ extraordinary size, without the intermixture of timber or of
“ any other material. —
On ascending the roof which is not of
“ great height, for it consists only of a single story there may
“ be seen a stone-field, thus composed of stones. Descending
“ again and looking into the aulae, these may be seen in a
“ line supported by 27 pillars, each consisting of a single stone.
“ The walls also are constructed of stones not inferior in size to
“ them. At the end of this building, which occupies more
“ than a stadium, is the tomb, which is a quadrangular pyramid,
“ each side of which is about four plethra (i.e., about 404 feet)
“ in length, and of equal height. The name of the person
“ buried there is Imandes [Diodorus gives Mendes or Marrus].
“ They built, it is said, this number of aulae, because it was the
“ custom for all the nomes to assemble there according to their
“ rank, with their own priests and priestesses, for the purpose
“ of performing sacrifices and making offerings to the gods, and
4 —
PYRAMID OF AL-lAh^N. 5 89
u
of administering justice in matters of great importance. Each
44
of the nomes was conducted to the aula appointed for it.”
The account given by Herodotus (ii, 148, Cary’s translation) is
as follows :
4
Yet the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. For it has
44
12 courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other,
44
six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one
44
another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It con-
44
tains two kinds of rooms, some under ground and some
44
above ground over them, to the number of 3,000, 1,500
44
of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through,
44
and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But the
44
underground rooms I only know from report ;
for the
44
Egyptians who have charge of the building would on no
44
account show me them, saying, that there were the sepulchres
44
of the kings who originally built this labyrinth, and of the
44
sacred crocodiles. I can therefore only relate what I have
44
learnt by hearsay concerning the lower rooms ;
but the upper
ones, which surpass all human works, I myself saw
44
for the
;
44
passage through the corridors, and the windings through the
44
courts, from their great variety, presented a thousand occa-
44
sions of wonder as I passed from a court to the rooms, and
44
from the rooms to the hall, and to the other corridors from
44
the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of
44
these are of stone, as also are the walls ; but the walls are
all
44
of sculptured figures.
full Each court is surrounded with
44
a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted. And adjoining
44
the extremity of the labyrinth is a pyramid, 40 orgyae (about
44
240 feet) in height, on which large figures are carved, and a
44
way to it has been made under ground.” The existence of
the Labyrinth in Egypt has also been disproved, for it has
been shown that the buildings which Herodotus regarded as
a temple were, in reality, the town which had grown up in
connection with the construction and maintenance of the
pyramids close by.
The Pyramid of Al = lahun was entered by Mr. W. Fraser,
who found it to be the tomb of Usertsen II like the Pyramid
;
of Hawarah, it is built of sun-dried bricks.

The Birkat al = Kurun, which lies a few miles to the
north-west of Madinat al-Fayyum, is the Lake Moeris of the
Greeks. It has a surface of 2,500 square kilometres; its
waters are about 130 feet below sea-level, and are brackish to
the taste. A
few miles to the east of the lake stood the towns
590 KA8R KARI>N.
of Karanis and Bacchias, the ruins of which have been

excavated by Mr. D. G. Hogarth and Dr. Grenfell, and to the
north are the mins of the town of Dimah ;
all these appear
to have been founded in Ptolemaic times, but probably on the
sites of old Egyptian towns. The ancient god of the whole
district was Sebek, at one time a solar deity, who became
incarnate in the crocodile. A little to the south-west of the
lake is Kasr Karun, i.e., the remains of a small Egyptian
temple of the Ptolemaic Period ; it was dedicated to Amen-Ra,
who became incarnate in a species of ram. The whole district
of the Fayyum is one of considerable archaeological interest,
and a careful examination of it would certainly result in the
discovery of ruins now unknown. It is, however, unlikely
that any very ancient remains will be found there, i.e., earlier
than the Xllth dynasty, but a great deal of information for the
Ptolemaic and Roman Periods will probably be obtained. This
view is very fully borne out by the discoveries of papyri frag-
ments which have been made by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt
in recent years, for they have brought to light a large number
of business documents and correspondence, to say nothing of
fragments of theological and classical works. Recently the
old view that the village of Hawarah represents the ancient
city of Het-Uart, or Avaris, the headquarters of the Hyksos,
has been revived, and an attempt has been made to explain the
seven years’ famine mentioned in Genesis by Sir W. Willcocks’
work on the Aswan Reservoir and Lake Moeris. This identi-
fication is opposed to all the known Egyptological facts about
the geography of Avaris, and is without satisfactory foundation.
59i
III.— THE FAYYUM TO LUXOR.

Passing Beni-Huder, with 1,728 inhabitants; Ashmant, with
5,841 inhabitants ; and Bush, with 12,754 inhabitants, we come,
at mile 73, to Beni Suwef, with 23,357 inhabitants ; this town
is the capital of the province bearing the same name, and is
governed by a Mudir. In ancient days it was famous for its

textile fabrics, and supplied Akhmim and other weaving cities of
Upper Egypt with flax. A
main road leads from this town to the
Fayyum. About 12 miles to the north of Beni Suwef the Bahr
Yhsuf bends towards the east, and runs by the side of large
mounds of ruins of houses, broken pottery, etc. ; these
mounds cover an area of 360 acres, and are commonly
called Umm al-Kuman, or “ Mother of Heaps,” though the
official name is Hanassiyah al-Madinah or Ahnas, with 5,995
inhabitants. They mark the site of the great city which was
^ /vw
called
or
by the Egyptians
Q ^^ '^,
Henen-su simply, from which the Jews made the name

Het-Suten-henen,
Din, and the Copts £,ItRC ;

the Greeks made this city the
capital of the nomeHerakleopolites, and called it Herak-

leopolis. No date can be assigned for the founding of the
city, but it was certainly a famous place in the early empire,
and in mythological texts great importance is ascribed to it.
According to Manetho, the kings of the IXth and Xth dynasties
were Herakleopolitans, but in the excavations which Messrs.
Naville and Petrie carried on at Hanassiyah or Ahnas they
found nothing there older than the XXIth dynasty.
Passing Bibah, with 10,156 inhabitants, we come to Feshn,
with 11,364 inhabitants, near which are the ruins of the city of
Het-Bennu, where the Phoenix was worshipped, and after Fant,
with 5,079 inhabitants, we arrive at Maghaghah, with 8,595
inhabitants, 108 miles from Cairo. This town is now cele-
brated for its large sugar manufactory, which is lighted by gas,
and is well worth a visit ; the manufacturing of sugar begins
here early in January.
About 24 miles further south, lying inland, on the western
side of the Nile, between the river and the Bahr Yusuf,, is
the site of the town of Oxyrrhynchus, so called by the
Greeks on account of the fish which they believed was
592 THE CONVENT OE THE PULLEY.
worshipped there. The Egyptian name of the town was Per-

matchet, whence the corrupt Arabic form Behnesa, with
2,004 inhabitants. The excavations made here by Messrs.
Grenfell and Hunt have been attended with important results.
A above Abu Girga, on the west bank of the Nile, is the
little
town of El-Kais, which marks the site of the ancient Cynopolis
or “Dog-city”: it was the seat of a Coptic bishop.
Thirteen miles from Abu Girga, also on the west bank of the
Nile, is the town of Kulusna, with 6,284 inhabitants, 134
miles from Cairo, and a few miles south, lying inland, is
SamaUut, with 8,178 inhabitants. Farther south, on the
east bank of the Nile, is Gebei et-Ter, or the “Bird
mountain,” so called because tradition says that all the birds
of Egypt assemble here once a year, and that they leave
behind them when departing one solitary bird that remains
there until they return the following year to relieve him of his
watch, and to set another in his place. As there are moun-
tains called Gebei et-Ter in all parts of Arabic-speaking
countries, because of the number of birds which frequent them,
the story is only one which springs from the fertile Arab
imagination. Gebei et-Ter rises above the river to a height
of 600 or 700 feet, and upon its summit stands a Coptic
convent dedicated to Mary the Virgin, Der al-‘Adhra, but
commonly called Der al = Bakarah, or the “Convent of
the Pulley,” because the ascent to the convent is generally
made by a rope and pulley. Leaving the river and entering
a fissure in the rocks, the traveller finds himself at the
bottom of a natural shaft about 120 feet long. When Robert
Curzon visited this convent, he had to climb up much in the
same way as boys used to climb up inside chimneys. The
convent stands about 400 feet from the top of the shaft, and is
built of small square stones of Roman workmanship ; the
necessary repairs have, however, been made with mud or sun-
dried brick. The outer walls of the enclosure form a square
which measures about 200 feet each way; they are 20 feet
high, and are perfectly unadorned. Tradition says that it was
founded by the Empress Helena,* and there is in this case no
reason to doubt it.
Minya, 153 miles from Cairo, with 27,221 inhabitants,
on the west bank of the Nile, is the capital of the province
of the same name; its Arabic name is derived from the
Coptic Mone, which in turn represents the Egyptian Ment.
* Died about a.d. 328, aged 80. (Sozomen, Eccles. Hist ., ii, 2.)
—
BENI-HASAN. 593
there is a large sugar factory here, in which about 2,000 men

are employed.
A few miles to the south of Minya are a number of tombs
which were excavated by Mr. George Fraser in 1893 ; they are
near the ancient site now called Tahnah al = Gabal, with 2,108
inhabitants. These tombs are mastabahs cut in the solid rock.
In the undisturbed burials Mr. Fraser found that the body
all
was placed with the head to the north ; it lay on its left side
with the face to the east, the knees drawn up and the arms
straight, and a dome of stones and mud was built over each
body. In one of the tombs the cartouches of Userkaf and
Men-kau-Ra were found. In 1903 MM. G. Lefebure and
Barry excavated the temple of Tahnah which was, apparently,
built in the reign of Nero, whose cartouches are found here in
the following forms :
C ^ llol
The hypostyle hall contained eight columns, and was built
close to the mountain, and was approached by a ramp ; in
each wall was a door. The sanctuary consisted of four
chambers hewn out of the rock ; in the first was a rectangular
well, or pit, which contained a black granite figure of Sekhet,
and in the fourth was an altar. The hypostyle hall is 20 metres
long and 1 1\ metres wide; the sanctuary, or speos, which is
probably an ancient tomb, is about 28 metres long. The
ramp was 25 metres long and 7 metres wide, and had a row of
statues on each side of it ; half-way up was a terrace 1 1 metres
long which extended to the right and left of the ramp.
A few miles south, on the eastern side of the river, is the
village of Zawiyat al = Metin, near which are the remains of
some tombs of the VI th dynasty. They appear to be the
tombs of the nobles of the city of Hebenu, the capital of the
XVIth nome of Upper Egypt.
Beni-Hasan=-al = Ashraf, 167 miles from Cairo, on the
east bank of the Nile, is remarkable for the large collection of
fine historical tombs which are situated at a short distance from
the site of the villages known’by this name. The villages of the
“ Children of Hasan ” were destroyed by order of Muhammad
‘Ali, on account of the thievish propensities of their inhabitants.
The Speos Artemidos is the first rock excavation visited
2 p
;;
594 BENI- HASAN.
here. This temple was built by Thothmes III and Hatshepset

about 250 years later Seti I added his name to several of the
half obliterated cartouches of Queen Hatshepset, but it seems
never to have been finished. The cavern was dedicated to the
cat-goddess Pakhet, who was called Artemis by the Greeks
hence the name “cavern of Artemis.” The Arabs call the
cavern the “ Stable of ‘Antar,” a famous Muhammadan hero.
The portico had originally two rows of columns, four in each ;
the cavern is about 21 feet square, and the niche in the wall at
the end was probably intended to hold a statue of Pakhet.
The famous Tombs of Beni = Hasan are hewn out of the
living rock, and are situated high up in the mountain 5 they
are about 39 in number, and all open on a terrace, somewhat
similar to the terrace outside the tombs at Asw&n. Each tomb
preserves the chief characteristics of the mastabahs of Sakkarah,
that is to say, it consists of a hall for offerings and a shaft
leading down to a corridor, which ends in the chamber con-
taining the sarcophagus and the mummy. The tombs were
hewn out of a thick layer of fine white limestone, and the walls
were partly smoothed and then covered with a thin layer of
plaster, upon which the scenes in the lives of the wealthy men
who ordered them to be made might be painted. Lower down
the hill are some scores of mummy pits, with small chambers
attached, wherein, probably, the poorer class of people who
lived near were buried. Of the 39 tombs at Beni- Hasan only
12 contain inscriptions, but it is clear from these that the men
who made the necropolis there were well-born, independent,
and almost feudal proprietors of the land in the neighbourhood,
who filled various high offices in the city of Menat-Khufu,
which was situated not far off, and that they flourished during
the Xlth and Xllth dynasties. Of the 12 inscribed tombs,
eight are of governors of the nome Meh, two are of princes of
Menat-Khufu, one is of the son of a prince, and one is of a
royal scribe. The 39 tombs were divided by Lepsius into two
groups, northern and southern ; in the former are 13 and in
the latter 26 tombs. Six of the inscribed tombs belong to the
reigns of Amenemhat I, Usertsen I, and Usertsen II, and the
other six were probably made during the rule of the kings of
the Xlth dynasty. The tombs of Beni-Hasan are extremely inter-
esting, and the visitor should examine as many of them as possible,
for as examples of Xllth dynasty work they are unrivalled.
No. 2. Tomb of Ameni, l\ l\l\

,
or Amenemhat,
beni-hasAn. 595
jUuilij a
q Ameni was the governor of the XVIth nome
of Upper Egypt, called Meh by the Egyptians and Antinoe
by the Greeks, and he flourished in the reign of Usertsen I.
He was by birth the hereditary prince of the district, and he
held the rank of “ha” or “duke,” and the office of priest to
various gods and goddesses he seems to have combined in
;
his own person the offices of almost every high state official
in the nome, Architecturally his tomb is of great interest,
and it is instructive to find examples of the use of octagonal
and polyhedral pillars in the same tomb the shrine is at the
;
east end of the hall, and two shafts, which lead to mummy
chambers below, are on one side of it. The inscriptions show
that Ameni was buried in the forty-third year of the reign
of Usertsen I, on the fifteenth day of the second month of the
Inundation, i.e ., about the end of May ; the feudal lords of the
nome seem to have had an epoch of their own by which to
reckon, for we are told that the forty-third year of Usertsen I
was the equivalent of “year 25 of the nome of Meh.”
No. 3. Tomb of Khnemu = Hetep II. I 'ZTn
Khnemu-hetep was the governor of the Eastern Mountains,
i.e.,of the land on the eastern side of the nome of Meh as
far as the Arabian mountains ; and he flourished in the reign
of Usertsen II. He was by birth the hereditary prince of the
district, and he held the rank of “ ha ” or “ duke,” and the
office of priest to various gods and goddesses. The scenes
painted on the walls of this tomb are of great interest, and
represent :
—
West wall (over the doorway ) a shrine with a
statue of the deceased being drawn to the tomb ; ( south side)
carpenters, washers of clothes, boat-builders, potters, weavers,
bakers, and others at work, and ( middle rozv) the wives and
family of Khnemu-hetep sailing in boats to Abydos ; ( north
side) the storage and registration of grain, reaping, treading
of corn, ploughing, gathering of grapes and other fruit, watering
the garden, oxen fording a river, a fishing scene, and ( middle
row) the passage of the mummy of the deceased to Abydos.
(North wall) Khnemu-hetep, armed with bow and arrows,
and his sons hunting in the desert ; with him went the scribe
Menthu-hetep, who kept an account of the bag made. On
the right is a large figure of KhnemuTietep, who is accom-
panied by one of his sons, and by an attendant, and by three
dogs, and the four lines of text above him state that he is
inspecting his cattle and the produce of his lands. Of the
2 p 2
59 6 BENI-HASAN.
four rows of figures before him, the first is perhaps the most
important, for it illustrates a procession of foreign people who
visited him in his capacity of governor of the nome.
The procession consists of 37 persons of the Aamu, a Semitic
people or tribe, and they are introduced by Nefer-hetep, a royal
scribe, who holds in his hand a papyrus roll, on which is
inscribed “Year 6, under the majesty of Horus, the leader of
“ the world, the king of the South and North, Ra-Kha-Kheper
“ (;Le ., Usertsen II). List of the Aamu, brought by the son
“ of the Duke Khnemu-hetep, on account of the. eye-paint,
“Aamu of Shu; a list of 37 [persons].” Behind the scribe

stands the official Khati, and behind him the Aamu chief, or
desert shekh ; these are followed by the other members of the
foreign tribe. The men of the Aamu wear beards, and carry
bows and arrows, and both men and women are dressed in
garments of many colours. The home of the Aamu was
situated to the east of Palestine. In this picture some have
seen a representation of the arrival of Jacob’s sons in Egypt
to buy corn, but there is no evidence_ for the support of this
theory ; others have identified the Aamu with the Hyksos.
The company here seen are probably merchants who brought
eye-paint, spices, and the like, from their own country, and
sold their wares to the rich officials of Egypt. On the East
and South Walls are series of scenes in which Khnemu-hetep
is depicted hunting the hippopotamus, and snaring birds, and
spearing fish, and receiving offerings.

No. 13. Tomb of Khnemu = hetep III, a royal scribe,
the son of Neferu-hetep. This tomb consists of one small
rectangular chamber with one mummy pit. The inscriptions
record the name and titles of the deceased, and petitions to
those who visit the tomb to pray that abundant offerings may
be made to him. This is one of the oldest tombs at Beni-
tlasan, and was probably made long before the site became a
general burial-ground for the nobles of Menat-Khufu.
No. 14. Tomb of Khnemu = hetep I, the governor of the
nome of Meh, and prince of the town of Menat-Khufu. His
father’s name and titles are unknown, and the rank of his
mother, Baqet, is also unknown ;
his wife was called Satap,
and his son Nekht succeeded to his rank, title, and dignities.
He flourished during the reign of Amen-em-hat I. On the
south-west wall of the main chamber of this tomb is an inscrip-
tion which contains the cartouches of Amen-em-hat I, and
BENI-HASAN. 597
which states that Khnemu-hetep I went on an expedition with

his king in boats to some country, probably to the south.
No. 15. Tomb of Baqet III, governor of the nome of
Meh. Baqet held the rank of “ ha,” or “duke,” and flourished
before the rule of the kings of the Xllth dynasty. This tomb
contains seven shafts leading to mummy chambers. The North
Wall is ornamented with some interesting scenes in which
men and women are seen engaged in various handicrafts and
occupations, and the deceased is seen enjoying himself hunting
in the desert, and fishing in the Nile. On the East Wall
wrestling scenes are painted, and over 200 positions are illus-
trated below these are illustrations of the events of a pitched
;
battle. On the South Wall are scenes connected with the work
on Baqet’s estates, and pictures of men engaged in their work
or amusements.
No. 17. Tomb of Khali, governor of the nome of Meh,
and commandant of the Eastern Desert ; the main chamber is
crossed by two rows of three quatrefoil columns of the lotus-
bud type, and of these two remain perfect. Each column
represents four lotus stems with unopened buds, tied together
below the buds, and is brilliantly painted in red, blue, and
yellow. This tomb contains two shafts leading to mummy
chambers, and is decorated with a large number of scenes
which have, however, much in common with those in the other
tombs already described.
In December, 1902, Mr. John Garstang began a systematic
excavation of the cemetery at Beni-Hasan, or at least of that
portion of it which remained untouched by the Egypt Explora-
tion Fund. By May, 1903, the number of tombs which he
examined was about 500, and by March, 1904, this number
had risen to 888. A description of certain typical tombs was
published by him in A?inales du Service tom. v, p. 215 ff., and
,
a full account of his operations has now been published.

Rodah, with 8,263 inhabitants, 176 miles from Cairo, the seat
of a large sugar manufactory, lies on the west bank of the river,
just opposite Shekh ‘Abadah, or Antinoe, a town built by
Hadrian, and named by him after his favourite Antinous, a
Bithynian youth, who was drowned here in the Nile. To the
south of Antinoe lies the Coptic convent of Abu Honnes
(Father John), and in the districts in the immediate neighbour-
hood are the remains of several Coptic buildings which date
back to the fourth century of our era. A little to the south-
west of Rorlah, lying inland are the remains of the city of
;
598 AL-BARSHAH.
Hermopolis Magna, called in Egyptian Khemennu in Coptic ,
Shmun, and in Arabic Eshmunen, with 7,464 inhabitants;

the tradition which attributes the building of this city to Eshmun,
son of Misr, is worthless. The Greeks called it Hermopolis,
because the Egyptians there worshipped Thoth, 5 ,

the
scribe of the gods, who was named by the Greeks Hermes.
A distance from the town is the spot where large numbers
little
of the a bird sacred to Thoth, were buried.

ibis,
About five miles south of Antinoe, and seven miles from
Eshmunen in a direct line across the Nile, on the north side
of the rocky valley behind the modern Coptic village of Der
AUNakhlah, is a very important group of ancient Egyptian
tombs at the place called Al = Barshah. The most important
of these is the Tomb of TehutUhetep, the chief of the
XVth nome of Upper Egypt, who flourished during the reigns
of Amen-em-hat II, Usertsen II, and Usertsen III, in the
Xllth dynasty. The facade consists of two fine columns with
palm-leaf capitals, supporting a massive architrave, all coloured
pink, and marbled with pale green to represent rose granite
the ceiling is painted blue and studded with quatrefoils, and
the walls were sculptured with hunting and other scenes. The
main chamber measures 25 feet by 20 feet by 13J feet, and on
the upper part of the left-hand wall is the famous painting of
the “Colossus on a Sledge,” in which we see a huge alabaster
statue of the deceased being dragged along by nearly 200 men.
This statue, we are told in the inscriptions, was 13 cubits in
height, i.e., nearly 21 feet, and it must have weighed about
60 tons ; the work of transporting this mass from the mountain
many miles distant, where it was quarried, must have been
enormous. Of Tehuti-hetep’s career little is known, but the
wealth and position of the man are sufficiently indicated by the
fact that he was able to undertake such a work. The tomb
was discovered by Messrs. Mangles and Irby about August 26th,
1817.
Malawi, with 20,249 inhabitants, 185 miles from Cairo, is
situated on the west bank of the river; it is the Manlau of
Coptic writers, and there were many Christian churches in the
town, among others one dedicated to Abatir, one to Mercurius,
one to St. George, one to Gabriel the Archangel, one to
Raphael the Archangel, and two to the Virgin and to Michael
the Archangel.
Passengers by rail alight at Der Mawas, with 8,914 in-
TELL AL- ‘AMARNA. 599
habitants, for Haggi Kandil, or Tell aU ‘Amarna, 195 miles

from Cairo. It lies on the east bank of the river, about five miles
from the ruins of the city built by Khu-en-Aten, Amenophis IV,
the famous “ heretic ” king of the XVIIIth dynasty, whose
prenomen was Neferkheperu-Ra ua-en-Ra. Amenophis IV was
the son of Amenophis III, by Thi, the daughter of Iuaa and
Thuau, whose tomb was discovered by Mr. T. M. Davis in 1905,
When the young prince Amenophis IV grew up, it was found
that he had conceived a rooted dislike to the worship of
Amen-Ra, the king of the gods and great lord of Thebes,
and that, he preferred the worship of the disk of the sun to
that of Amen-Ra ; as a sign of his opinions he called himself
“ spirit of Aten/’ and “ beloved of Aten,” instead of the usual
and time-honoured “ beloved of Amen.” In answer to the
objections of the priesthood of Amen, the king ordered the name
of Amen-Ra to be chiselled out of all the monuments, even
from his. father’s names. Rebellion then broke out, and
Khu-en-Aten thought it best to leave Thebes, and to found
a new city for himself at a place between Memphis and
Thebes, now called Tell al- Amarna. The famous architect Bek,
whose father Men served under Amenophis III, designed the
temple buildings, and in a very short time a splendid town, with
beautiful granite sculptures, sprang out of the desert. As
an insult to the Thebans, the king built a sandstone and
granite temple at Thebes in honour of the god Harmachis.
,
When Khu-en-Aten’s new town, Khut-aten, “the spirit (?) of

the sun’s disk,” was finished, his mother Thi came to live
there; and here the king passed his life quietly with his
mother, wife, and seven daughters. He died leaving no male
issue, and each of the husbands of his daughters became king.
The length of the king’s reign does not seem to have been
more than 12 or 15 years, and certainly long before the reign
of Rameses II the beautiful city which Khu-en-Aten built had
been made to fall into ruins. Fortunately, however, the ruins
and they allow visitors to follow its plan with
are very instructive,
success. In 1887 a number of important cuneiform tablets
were found by a native woman near the palace, and most of
these may be seen in the Museums of London, Berlin, and
Cairo. They are inscribed with letters and despatches from
kings of countries in and about Mesopotamia and from
governors of cities in Palestine and Syria, and those from the
last-named countries show that, whilst the heretic king was
occupying himself with theological problems and artistic
(
6oo MANFALUT.
developments, his Empire was falling to pieces. Among the

tombs of special interest are :
— Northern Group) No. i. Tomb
of Pa-nehsi, which seems to have been used as a church by
the Copts ; No. 2. Tomb of Pentu, inscribed with a hymn to
Aten ; No. 3. Tomb of Meri = Ra, which is probably the most
characteristic of the period, with sacrificial scenes, hymns to
Aten, plans of houses, and scenes of the crowning of officials ;
No. 4. Tomb of Aahmes, with a hymn to Aten No. 5. Tomb ;
of an unknown official which was being built when King

Ra-saa-ka came to the throne ; and No. 7, a tomb which
mentions the receipt of tribute from vassal nations. The scenes
and portraits in this tomb are of great interest. ( Southern
Group.) The Tomb of Tutu, with hymns to Aten; and the
Tomb of Ai, the successor of King Khu-en-Aten. The
Tomb of Khu-en = Aten lies at a considerable distance
from the river, and it is chiefly interesting on account of the
scenes of sun-worship which are depicted in it.
—
Gebel Abu Fedah. Seventeen miles south of Haggi
Kandil, 209 miles from Cairo, on the east side of the river, is
the range of low mountains about 12 miles long known by
this name. Lying a little distance inland is the village of
AUKusiyah, which marks the site of the Greek city of
Cusae, the Qes of the hieroglyphic texts, and the
XIVth nome of Upper Egypt. The name seems
capital of the
to mean, “the town of the mummy bandages.” According to
Êlian (H.A. x, 27), the goddess of the city was worshipped
under the form of a white cow. Towards the southern end of
this range there are some crocodile mummy pits.
Manfalut, with 14,482 inhabitants, 220 miles from Cairo
on the west bank of the Nile, occupies the site of an ancient
Egyptian town. Leo Africanus says that the town was de-
stroyed by the Romans, and adds that it was rebuilt under
Muhammadan rule. In his time he says that huge columns
and buildings inscribed with hieroglyphs were still visible. The
Coptic name Ma-en-balot, “ place of the sack,” is the original
of its Arabic name to-day. Quite close on the east bank is
Ma‘abdah, in the hills of which was found a burial place full
of mummies of Crocodiles.
Asyut.
U.S. Consular Agent, G. W. Bey.
Asytit, 249^ miles from Cairo, with 39,442 inhabitants,
ASYUT THE AMERICAN MISSION. 6oi
is the capital of the province of the same name, and the seat of
the Inspector-General of Upper Egypt ; it stands on the site of
the ancient Egyptian city called Saut, whence the Arabic name
Siut or Asyut, and the Coptic Siout. The Greeks called the
city Lycopolis, or “ wolf city,” probably because the jackal-
headed Anubis was worshipped there. In ancient Egyptian
times the sacred name of the city was Per-Anpu, and it formed
the capital of the XVI Ith or Anubis nome of Upper Egypt
Asyftt is a large city, with spacious bazaars and fine mosques •
it is famous for its red pottery and for its market, held every
Sunday, to which wares from Arabia and Upper Egypt are

brought. The American Missionaries have a large estab-
lishment, and the practical, useful education of the natives by
these devoted men is carried on here, as well as at Cairo, on a
large scale. The Asyut Training College was specially estab-
lished to provide and prepare workers to carry on the educa-
tional and evangelistic operations of the Evangelical community
in Egypt, and nearly all the male teachers have been trained
in it.*
The Arabic geographers described Asyht as a town of con-
siderable size, beauty, and importance, and before the abandon-
ment of the Stidan by the Khedive all caravans from that region
stopped there. In the hills to the west of the town are a
number of ancient Egyptian tombs, which date back as far as
the VI I Ithdynasty. The most important of these are the tombs
of Khati and Tef-ab. Alarge number were destroyed during
the XIXth century for the sake of the limestone forming the
walls. When M. Denon stayed here he said that the number
of hieroglyphic inscriptions which cover the tombs was so great
that many months would be required to read and many years
to copy them. The disfigurement of the tombs dates from the
time when the Christians took up their abode in them. The
Barrage at Asyut has already been described in a separate
section of this work (see pages 92-95).
Fifteen miles farther south is the Coptic town of Abu Tig,
the name of which appears to mean “granary ” ; and 14-^ miles
beyond, 279 miles from Cairo, is Kau al = Kabir (the TKUXVtf
of the Copts), which marks the site of Antaeopolis, the capital
of the Antaeopolite nome in Upper Egypt. The temple which
formerly existed here was dedicated to Antaeus, the Libyan
* See page 420. The history of the work which the Mission has carried
on with such conspicuous success is modestly told by Dr. Andrew Watson
in the “American Mission of Egypt, 1854-1896,” Pittsburg, 1898.
6 02 WHITE MONASTERY.
wrestler, who fought with Hercules;

he was the son of Poseidon
and Ge, and was invincible as long as he remained in contact
with his mother earth. In the plain close by it is said by
Diodorus that the battle between Horus, the son of Osiris and
Isis, and Set or Typhon, the murderer of Osiris, took place ;
Typhon was overcome, and fled away in the form of a
crocodile. In Christian times Antaeopolis was the seat of a
bishop. Tahtah, with 18,203 inhabitants, 29 miles from
Cairo, contains some interesting mosques, and is the home of
a large number of Copts, in consequence of which, probably,
the town is kept clean. Suhag, with 17,514 inhabitants,
31 7J miles from Cairo, is the capital of the province of
Girga ;
near it are the White and Red Monasteries. The
Der al-Abyad or “White Monastery,” so called because
of the colour of the stone of which it is built, but better
known by the name of Amba Shenudah, is situated on
the west bank of the river near Suhag, 317^ miles from
Cairo. The convent was built by the Empress Helena, in
the ancient Egyptian style. The walls slope inwards towards
the summit, where they are crowned with a deep over-
hanging cornice. The building is of an oblong shape, about
200 feet in length by 90 feet wide, very well built of fine
blocks of stone ; it has no windows outside larger than loop-
holes, and these are at a great height from the ground. Of
these there are 20 on the south side and nine at the east end.
The monastery stands at the foot of the hill, on the edge of
the Libyan desert, where the sand encroaches on the plain.
There -were formerly six gates ; the single entrance now
remaining is called the “mule gate,” because when a certain
heathen princess came riding on a mule to desecrate the
church, the earth opened and swallowed her up. The walls
enclose a space measuring about 240 feet by 133 feet. The
convent was dedicated to Shenuti, who was born a.d. 333 ; he
died at midday on July 2nd, a.d. 451 ! The library once con-
tained over a hundred parchment books, but these were
destroyed by the Mamlfiks when they last sacked the convent.
In this monastery the bodies of St. Bartholomew and Simon
the Canaanite are said to be buried, but the body of its founder
was laid in the monastery which stood on the Mountain of
Athribjs, a name derived from the Egyptian Het-erpat. The
Der al-Ahmar or “ Red Monastery,” so called because
of the red colour of the bricks of which it is built, was
also built by the Empress Helena; it is smaller and better
AKHMIM-PANOPOLIS. 603
preserved than the White Monastery, and was dedicated to the

Abba Besa, the disciple and friend of Shenuti. The pillars of
both churches were taken from Athribis, which lay close by ;
the orientation of neither church is exact, for their axes point
between north-east and north-east by east. The ruined church
of Armant near Thebes is built on the same model. All
lovers of Coptic buildings will be grateful to Lord Cromer
for the promptitude which he showed in connection with
the repairing of these monasteries, which contain the two
most important churches in Egypt. Mr. Somers Clarke
called attention to the ruined slate of the monasteries,
and very soon after Herz Bey, Architect to the Comite de
Conservation, took steps to preserve the buildings and to
clear out the squalid houses which had been built up within
the walls. The Egyptian Government granted Ê,4,ooo for
the work of restoration, and to this sum the Coptic Patriarch
added pÊ. 1,000.
A few miles south of Suhag, on the east bank of the river,
lies thetown of Akhmim, with 23,795 inhabitants, called
Panopolis by the Greeks Strabo and Leo Africanus say
;
that it was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt. The

ithyphallic god Amsu, identified by the Greeks with Pan, was
worshipped here, and the town was famous for its linen
weavers and stone cutters. Its Egyptian name was Apu. Of
this city Herodotus (ii, 91) says “There is a large city called
:
“ Chemmis (i.e., Panopolis), situate in the Thebaic district,

“ near Neapolis, in which is a quadrangular temple dedicated
“ to Perseus the son of Danae palm trees grow round it, and
;
“ the portico is of stone, very spacious, and over it are placed
“ two large stone statues. In this enclosure is a temple, and
“ in it is placed a statue of Perseus. The Chemmitae affirm
“ that Perseus has frequently appeared to them on earth, and
“ frequently within the temple, and that a sandal worn by him
“ is sometimes found, which is two cubits in length and that
;
“ after its appearance, all Egypt flourishes. They adopt the

“ following Grecian customs in honour of Perseus they cele- :
“ brate gymnastic games, embracing every kind of contest and

;
“ they give as prizes, cattle, cloaks, and skins. When I

“ enquired why Perseus appeared only to them, and why they
“ differed from the rest of the Egyptians in holding gymnastic
“ games, they answered, Perseus derived his origin from their
‘
“ ‘ city; for that Danaus and Lynceus,

who were both natives
“ ‘
of Chemmis, sailed from there into Greece 9
j
and tracing the
604 ABYDOS.
“ descent down from them, they came to Perseus and that

;
“ he coming to Egypt, for the same reason as the Greeks

‘
allege, in order to bring away the Gorgon’s head from Libya,
‘
they affirmed that he came to them also and acknowledged
“ all kindred and that when he came to Egypt he was
his ;
“ well acquainted with the name of Chemmis, having heard it

“ from his mother they add, that by his order they instituted
;
“ gymnastic games in honour of him.” Akhmim is still

famous for its linen weavers, who seem to have inherited the
skill of their predecessors in making many coloured woven
fabrics. The famous as the birth place of Nonnus,
city is also
the poet, a.d.and as the burial place of Nestorius,
410,
a.d. 450. This wretched man was banished first to Petra, in
Arabia, and then to the Oasis of Khargah in 435 ; he was
seized by the Blemmyes and carried off, but eventually found
his way to Panopolis. He was again banished and tortured by
sufferings and privations, and at length died of a disease in the
course of which his tongue was eaten by worms his religious ;
opponents declared that rain never fell on his tomb. In

former days Akhmim had a large population of Copts, and
large Coptic monasteries stood close by. The Necropolis of
Akhmim was discovered by M. Maspero in 1882-3.
Al = Manshah, on the west bank of the river, 328J miles
from Cairo, stands on the site of a city which is said to have
been the capital of the Panopolite lyome ; its Coptic name was
Psoi. In the time of Shenhti the Blemmyes, a nomad warlike
Ethiopian tribe, invaded Upper Egypt, and having acquired
much booty, they returned to Psoi or Al-Menshah, and settled
down there. Girga, with 19,893 inhabitants, on the west
bank of the river, 341^ miles from Cairo, has a large Christian
population, and is said to occupy the site of the ancient This,
whence sprang the first dynasty of historical Egyptian kings. A
few miles further on is Al = Balyana UuJjJU with 7,875 in-
habitants, where Abydos.

travellers usually start for
During the years 190 1-3 the Hearst Egyptian Expedition
carried out the excavation of a series of cemeteries situated
at Naga’ ‘ad = Der, nearly opposite Girga. Dr. Reisner found
near the promontory on which stands the rained tomb of
Shekh Farak three ravines, which served as burial places for
the Egyptians from the Predynastic Period to a very late date.
As the result of his investigations of these he has formulated
the following theories That from the predynastic times to
:
those of the third and following dynasties the burial customs

ABYDOS. 605
of the Egyptians remained unchanged. On the other hand

the differences between the things placed in the graves, and in
the construction of the tombs, are very great. The tombs of
the early dynasties contain the products of technical skill, i.e
bored and engraved stones, which are never found in graves
of the early Predynastic Period. On the other hand, chipped
or worked flints, hand-made pottery, plaited reed work, etc.,
similar to those found in predynastic graves still occur. The
differences between the people of the predynastic graves and
those of the early dynasties depend on two mechanical in-
ventions, viz., stone boring and writing, and on the spread of
a third invention, copper working. “ It is, I believe, impossible
“ to escape the conclusion that the inhabitants of Egypt from
“ the earliest Predynastic Period down to the end of Proto-
“ dynastic Period, form one continuous race and that we are here
“ witnesses of the steps by which they conquered the stubborn
“ materials of the earth and earned that civilization which we
“ call Egyptian.” And again “ The invention of copper working
:
“ is Egyptian the invention of the stone borer is Egyptian and

; ;
“ the invention of the hieroglyphic system of writing is Egyptian.”
As regards the chronology of the Predynastic Period he finds
“ that the length of time indicated by the size of the pre-
“ dynastic cemeteries and by the changes introduced during the
“ course of the burials cannot possibly carry us beyond 4500
“ [b.c.] for the earliest predynastic grave known. In fact, it is
“ extremely doubtful if the earliest known grave is earlier than
“ 4000 b.c. In any case, 4200 b.c. was a period of undoubted
“ barbarism, the nearest approach to the Neolithic which we
“ have in Egypt.”
Abydos,* Egyptian f J
in Abtu, Arabic ‘Arabat al-
'
Madfunah, on the west bank of the Nile, was one of the most
renowned cities of ancient Egypt ; it was famous as the chief
seat of the worship of Osiris in Upper Egypt, and the chief
sanctuary of this god was here. The town itself was dedicated to
Osiris, and the temple in it, wherein the most solemn ceremonies
connected with the worship of this god were celebrated, was
more reverenced than any other in the land. Tradition declared
that the head of Osiris was preserved at Abydos. The town and
its necropolis were built side by side, and the custom usually
followed by the Egyptians in burying their dead away from the

town in the mountains was not followed in this case. The town
* In ancient times the name was pronounced Abydos, and not Abydos.
6o6 ABYDOS.
of Abydos, a small town even in its best time, was built upon
a narrow tongue of land situated between the canal, which lies
inland some few miles, and the desert, and owed its importance
solely to the position it held as a religious centre ; from this
point of view it was the second city in Egypt. The necropolis
of Abydos is not much older than the Vlth dynasty, and the
tombs found there belonging to this period are of the mastabah
class. During the Xlth and Xllth dynasties the tombs took the
form of small pyramids, which were generally built of brick,
and the ancient rectangular form of tomb was revived during
the XVIIIth dynasty. Abydos attained its greatest splendour
under the monarchs of the Xlth and Xllth dynasties, and
though its plain was used as a burial ground so late as Roman
times, it became of little or no account so early as the time of
Psammetichus I. It has often been assumed that the town of
Abydos is to be identified with This, the home of Menes, the
first historical king of Egypt ; the evidence derived from the
exhaustive excavations made by M. Mariette does not support

this assumption. Plutarch says that wealthy inhabitants of
Egypt were often brought to Abydos to be buried near
the mummy of Osiris, and curiously enough, the tombs
close to certain parts of the temple of Osiris are more care-
fully executed than those elsewhere. Of Abydos Strabo says
(Bk. xvii, cap. i, sec. 42): “ Above this city (Ptolemais) is
“ Abydos, where is the palace of Memnon, constructed in a
“ singular manner, entirely of stone, and after the plan of the
“ Labyrinth, which we have described, but not composed of
“ many parts. It has a fountain situated at a great depth.
“ There is a descent to it through an arched passage built
“ with single stones of remarkable size and workmanship.
“ There is a canal which leads to this place from the great
“ river. About the canal is a grove of Egyptian acanthus,
“ dedicated to Apollo. Abydos seems once to have been a
“ large city, second to Thebes. At present it is a small town.
“ But if, as they say, Memnon is called Ismandes by the
“ Egyptians, the Labyrinth might be a Memnonium, and the
“ work of the same person who constructed those at Abydos
“ and at Thebes for in those places, it is said, are some
;
“ Memnonia. At Abydos Osiris is worshipped but in the

;
“ temple of Osiris no singer, nor player on the pipe, nor on

“ the cithara, is permitted to perform at the commencement
“ of the ceremonies celebrated in honour of the god, as is
“ usual in rites celebrated in honour of the gods ” (Bk. xvii,
—
ABYDOS. 607
1, 44, Falconer’s translation). The principal monuments which

were brought to light by the excavations of M. Mariette at
Abydos are :
1. The. Temple of Seti I, better known as the Mem =
Plan of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos (Mariette).
nonium ; it is built of fine white calcareous stone upon an

artificial foundation made
of stone, earth, and sand, which
has been laid upon a s\o ing piece of land ; it was called
l
Menmaat-Ra, after the prenomen of its builder. The Phceni-

6o8 ABYDOS.
cian graffitishow that the temple must have ceased to be used

at a comparatively early period. It would seem that it was
nearly finished when Seti I died, and that his son
Plan of the Temple ot Rameses II at Abydos.
only added the pillars in front and the decoration. Its exterior
consists of two courts, a and B, the wall which divides them,
and the facade ; all these parts were built by Rameses II. The
;
NEOLITHIC GRAVES AT ABYDOS. 609
pillars are inscribed with religious scenes and figures of the

king and the god Osiris. On the large wall to the south of
the central door is an inscription in which Rameses II relates
all that he has done for the honour of his father’s memory,
how he erected statues of him at Thebes and Memphis, and

how he built up the sacred doors. At the end of it he gives a
brief sketch of his childhood, and the various grades of rank
and dignities which he held. In the interior the first hall, c, is
mainly of the time of Rameses II, but it is possible to see under
the rough hieroglyphics of this king the finer ones of Seti I
this hall contains 24 pillars, arranged in two rows. The scenes
on the walls represent figures of the gods and of the king
offering to them, the names of the nomes, etc., etc. The
second hall, d, is larger than the first, the style and finish of
the sculptures are very fine, the hieroglyphics are in relief, and
it contains 36 columns, arranged in three rows. From this
hall seven short naves dedicated to Horus, Isis, Osiris, Amen,
Harmachis, Ptah, and Seti I respectively, lead into seven
vaulted chambers, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, beautifully shaped and
decorated, which are dedicated to the same beings. The
scenes on the walls of six of these chambers represent the
ceremonies which the king was supposed to perform in them
daily ;
those in the seventh refer to the apotheosis of the king.
At the end of chamber G is a door which leads into the
sanctuary of Osiris, l, and in the corridor m is the famous
Tablet of Abydos, which gives the names of 76 kings of
Egypt, beginning with Menes and ending with Seti I.
2. The Temple of Rameses II ; it was dedicated by this
king ta the god Osiris ;

it lies a little to the north of the temple
of Seti I. Many distinguished scholars thought that this was the

famous shrine which all Egypt adored, but the excavations
made there by M. Mariette proved that it was not. It would
seem that during the French occupation of Egypt in the early
part of the last century this temple stood almost intact ; since that
time, however, so much damage has been wrought upon it, that
the portions of wall which now remain are only about 8 or
9 feet high. The fragment of the second Tablet of Abydos,
now in the British Museum, came from this temple. The few
scenes and fragments of inscriptions which remain are interest-
ing, but not important. A little to the north of the temple of
Rameses II is a Coptic monastery, the church of which is
dedicated to Amba Musas.
In recent years a number of excavations which have been
2 Q
6io NEOLITHIC GRAVES AT ABYDOS.
productive of important results have been carried on near

Abydos. In 1896 M. de Morgan discovered a number of
remarkable tombs of the Neolithic Period at Al-‘Amrah, about
three miles to the east of Abydos. In 1895, 1896, and 1897
M. Arnelineau excavated the tombs of a number of kings of the
first three dynasties at Umm
al-Ka‘ab, which lies to the west
of the necropolis of the Middle Empire, and in the course of
his work at Abydos he also discovered a shrine which the
ancient Egyptians placed on a spot where they seem to have
believed that the god Osiris was buried, or at any rate where
some traditions declared he was laid. In the winter of 1899-1900
Professor Petrie also carried on excavations on M. Amelineau’s
old sites at Abydos, and recovered a number of objects of the
same class as those found by M. Arnelineau. The true value
and general historical position of the antiquities which were
found at Abydos by M. Arnelineau and M. de Morgan, as
well as of those which were found by M. de Morgan at
Nakadah and Abydos, and by Professor Petrie at Balias and
Tfikh, were first indicated by M. de Morgan himself in his
volumes of Recherches sur les Origines de VEgypte Paris, 1896
,
and 1897. The royal names TEN, ATCHAB, and SMER-

KHAT, discovered by M. de Morgan, were tentatively
identified with the kings of the 1st dynasty who are usually
called Hesepti, Merbapen, and Semen-Ptah, by Herr Sethe
Bd. 35, p. 1, ff. 1897. M. Jequier
in the Aegyptische Zeitschrift,
identified PERABSEN with Neter-baiu, a king of the Ilnd
dynasty, and Professor Petrie identified QA with the king of
the 1 st dynasty who is usually called Qebh. The identifica-
tions of AHA with Menes, and Narmer with Teta, and Tcha
with Ateth, and Mer-Nit with Ata, kings of the 1 st dynasty,,
at present need further evidence. Some of these are more
probably pre-dynastic kings. In 1908-9 Professor Naville
and Mr. Ayrton continued excavations at Abydos on behalf
of the Egypt Exploration Fund. During the winters of
1909-10 and 1910-11 Professor Naville, assisted by Messrs.
Peet, Dixon, Hall, and Legge, carried out excavations on
behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund in the Royal Tombs
at Abydos, and in a cemetery, which he calls the “ mixed
cemetery/’ situated near the edge of the desert. Among
other important things found was a potsherd bearing the
name of a king similar to that of Smerkhat, and a fragment
of a crystal vase. The latter once bore the name of Merpeba,
but t h[s has been rubt^d off, arid the name of another king
NEOLITHIC GRAVES AT ABYDOS. 6ll
Hu, or Nekht, or Semempses as Professor Naville suggests,

cut in its place. In front of this are the signs
which have been usually read Semti and believed to form a
name of King Ten, but Professor Naville thinks this is now
doubtful; this doubt is shared by Messrs. Weill and Legge,
and the latter believes that the tomb of Ten belongs to a later
period than the 1st dynasty, to which it has been generally
assigned. Professor Naville first cleared the square on the
north side of the tomb of Ten and east of the tomb of King
Khent, where in 1897 M. Amelineau discovered the famous
cenotaph of Osiris. Certainly at one period of Egyptian
history the tomb of Khent was regarded by the Egyptians as
the veritable tomb of Osiris. In the course of the work a
very large number of pots were found, the presence of which
cannot be explained in the desert sand were found hundreds
;
of coarse earthenware cups or tumblers, which had never been

used. Amelineau’s theory is confirmed by the finding of six
mud figures of Osiris, two of which had strings of blue
glazed beads round the neck. Mr. Legge cleared the tomb
of Perabsen, and found several clay sealings. In the “ mixed
cemetery ” were found tombs of true Egyptian character,
tombs of pre-dynastic character, and tombs with characteristics
partaking of both. From these Professor Naville argues that
the use of the word pre-dynastic when applied to tombs con-
taining bodies in a crouching position, flints, and red pots with
black rims, is not always correct. He thinks that the level of
civilization was not always the same at the same time in the Nile
Valley, and that in some places the differences might have
lasted for centuries. Because in one place the flints are of
better workmanship, the pots of better ware or better painted,
that will not mean different stages in that neolithic culture,
especially it will not mean a chronological succession. When
conquerors of alien race occupy the country they will not take
possession of all of it at once, their influence will spread
slowdy, and though they may use the cemeteries of the
aborigines, the natives will go on burying their dead in the
same way as their fathers, and perhaps even in the same
cemetery as their conquerors. “ Because another dynasty
“ comes to the throne of Memphis or Thebes, what reason is
“ there why a woman in a village should change the beads of
“ her necklace and the pots in which she prepares her food ? ”
In the winter of 1910-11 Professor Naville and Mr. Peet
continued their excavations at Abydos, and they found there
2 Q 2
6 12 kenA.
what Professor Naville believes to be the famous well de-

scribed by Strabo. This well was, as M. Lefebure has shown,
believed to be the true entrance to the Other World, or
Kingdom of Osiris, and into it were thrown all the offerings
made to the god. These were said to be carried by some
underground passage to the spot where Osiris sat enthroned
by the side of, or on, the celestial waters which formed the
source of the Nile in this world. We
hope that excavations
will be continued on this being the traditional home
site, for,
of the cult of Osiris, it is tolerably certain that sooner or
later important ancient remains will be discovered. A large
part of the site, however, still remains to be excavated, and it
may be asserted confidently that the clearing of it will occupy
several excavators for many years.
Thenext station reached is Abu Tisht, with 2,756 inhabi-
tants, and the next Farshut, with 14,318 inhabitants, 368
miles from Cairo, on the west bank of the river. Between
Abft Tisht and Farshfit is Muwaslat al-Khargah, or Khargah
Junction, where the traveller starts for the Great Oasis.
The narrow-gauge railway (2 feet 6 inches) is seen on the
right-hand side of the main line on going south. At Nag‘
Hamadi, with 3,867 inhabitants, 373 miles from Cairo, is
the iron railway bridge, 1,362 feet in length, across the
Nile.
Kasr as = Sayyad, or “ the hunter’s castle,” with 6,359
inhabitants, 376 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the river,
marks the site of the ancient Chenoboskion, i.e., the u Goose-
pen,” or place where geese were kept in large numbers and
fattened for market. The Copts call the town Sheneset, which
is probably a corruption of some old Egyptian name, meaning
the place where geese were fattened. The town is famous in

Coptic annals as the place where Pachomius (he died about
a.d. 349, aged 57 years) embraced Christianity, and a few miles
to the south of it stood the great monastery of Tabenna, which
he founded. In the neighbourhood are a number of interesting
tombs of the Early Empire. Passing the stations*Al = Pab‘ih,
with 5,300 inhabitants, and Faw
Kibli, with 10,435 inhabi-
tants, at mile 387 from Cairo, Dashna, with 10,386 inhabitants,
is reached.
Kena,with about 20,069 inhabitants, 405^- miles from
Cairo, on the east bank of the river, is the capital of the
province of the same name. This city is famous for its dates
and the trade which it carries on in the porous ware drinking
33j30,
TEMPLE OF DENDERAH. 613
bottles, which are made here in myriads. The Arabic name

for this kind of bottle is “kullah,” JQj ,
which is commonly
called gullah its plural is either kulal, or kilal, > or

;
JJj .
A short distance from the river, on the west bank, a little to

the north of the village of Denderah, stands the Temple of
Denderah, which marks the site of the classical Tentyra or
Tentyris, where the goddess Hathor was worshipped. During
the Middle Empire great quantities of flax and linen fabrics were
produced at Tentyra, and it gained some reputation thereby.
In very ancient times Khufu, or Cheops, a king of the
IVth dynasty, founded a temple here, but it seems never to
have become of much importance, probably because it lay so
close to the famous shrines of Abydos and Thebes. The
wonderfully preserved temple now standing there is probably
but little older than the beginning of our era ; indeed, it cannot,
in any case, be older than the time of the later Ptolemies hence :
it must be considered as the architectural product of a time

when the ancient Egyptian traditions of sculpture were already
dead and nearly forgotten. It is, however, a majestic
monument, and worthy of careful examination. Strabo says
(Bk. xvii, ch. i, 44) of this town and its inhabitants “ Next to :
“ Abydos is . the city Tentyra, where the crocodile is held

. .
“ in peculiar abhorrence, and is regarded as the most odious of

“ all animals. For the other Egyptians, although acquainted with
“ its mischievous disposition, and hostility towards the human
“ race, yet worship it, and abstain from doing it harm. But the
“ people of Tentyra track and destroy it in every way. Some,
“ however, as they say of the Psyllians of Cyrenaea, possess a
“ certain natural antipathy to snakes, and the people of Tentyra
“ have the same dislike to crocodiles, yet they suffer no injury
“ from them, but dive and cross the river when no other person
“ ventures to do so. When crocodiles were brought to Rome to
“ be exhibited, they were attended by some of the Tentyritae.
“ A reservoir was made for them with a sort of stage on one of
“ the sides, to form a basking place for them on coming out of
“ the water, and these persons went into the water, drew them in
“ a net to the place, where they might sun themselves and be
“ exhibited, and then dragged them back again to the reservoir.
“ The people of Tentyra worship Venus. At the back of the
“ fane of Venus is a temple of Isis then follow what are called
;
“ Typhoneia, and the canal leading to Coptos, a city common

6 14 TEMPLE OF DENDERAH.
“ both to the Egyptians and Arabians.’' (Falconer’s trans-

lation.)
On the walls and on various other parts of the temples are
Plan of the Temple at Denderah.
the names of several of the Roman Emperors ; the famous

portraits of Cleopatra and Caesarion her son are on the end
wall of the exterior. Passing along a dromos for about 250 feet,
;
TEMPLE OF DENDERAH. 615
the portico, a, supported by 24 Hathor-headed columns,

arranged in six reached.
rows, is Leaving this hall by the
doorway facing the entrance, the visitor arrives in a second
hall, b, having six Hathor-headed columns and three small
chambers on each side. The chambers held the priestly
apparel and stores of the temple. The two chambers, c and
d, have smaller chambers on the right and left, e was the
sanctuary, and in f the emblem of the god worshipped in
the temple was placed. From a room on each side of c a
staircase led up to the roof. On the ceiling of the portico is the
famous “ Zodiac,” which was thought to have been made in
ancient Egyptian times ; the Greek inscription written in the
twenty-first year of Tiberius =
a.d. 35, and the names of the
Roman Emperors, have clearly proved that, like that at Esna,
it belongs to the Roman time. The Zodiac from Denderah,
now at Paris, was cut out, with the permission of Muhammad
‘Ali, in 1821, from the small temple of Osiris, generally called
the “Temple on the Roof.” The Iseium is situated to
the south of the temple of Hathor, and consists of three
chambers and a corridor ; near by is a pylon which was
dedicated to Isis in the thirty-first year of Caesar Augustus.
The Mammisi, or birth-house, was built by Augustus
this is the dwelling where the goddess was supposed to have
brought forth the third person of the triad which was adored in
the temple close by. The Typhonium stands to the north of
the Temple of Hathor, and was so named because the god Bes,
figures of whom occur on its walls, was confused with

Jj^,
Typhon it
;
measures about 120 feet by 60 feet, and is
surrounded by a peristyle of 22 columns. If time permits, the
Crypts should be visited, for the late Ptolemaic bas-reliefs are
of interest.
A few miles beyond Denderah, on the east bank of the
river, liesthe town of Kuft, the Qebt of the hieroglyphics, and
Keft of the Copts, with 8,934 inhabitants ; it was the principal
city in the Coptites nome, and was the Thebais Secunda of the
Itineraries. From Kuft the road which crossed the desert to
Berenice on the Red Sea started, and the merchandize which
passed through the town from the east, and the stone from the
famous porphyry quarries in the Arabian desert, must have
made it wealthy and important. It held the position of a port
on the Nile for merchandize from a very early period ; and
6i 6 NEOLITHIC GRAVES AT COPTOS.
there is no doubt that every Egyptian king who sent expeditions

to Punt, and the countries round about, found Kuft most
usefully situated for this purpose. A
temple dedicated to the
ithyphallic gods Menu, Isis, and Osiris, stood here. It was
nearly destroyed by Diocletian a.d. 292. A copy of a medical
papyrus in the British Museum states that the work was
originally discovered at Coptos during the time of Cheops,
a king of the IVth dynasty; thus it is certain that the
Egyptians considered this city to be of very old foundation.
Early in the year 1910 MM. Weill and A. J. Reinach
carried out the excavation of a portion of the ruins of the
ancient city of Coptos. In the course of their work they un-
covered the remains of two or three Egyptian temples, and
cleared out the ruins of two Coptic churches, and they dis-
covered a number of objects of very considerable interest.
Among these may be specially mentioned a stele of Pepi I
sculptured with a figure of the king adoring the god of Coptos,
Menu, and with a figure of his mother, Aptu, whose name
appears for the first time two stelae of Pepi II; a stele of king
;
Uatch(?)-ka-Ra J CiJ, whose Horus name was Temt-ab-
taui (No. 1), and who may have been one of the immediate
No. 1. No. 2.
successors of Pepi II, the last king of the
YIth dynasty ;
a stele of Nefer kau-Heru
J
U U IjJ, whose Horus name was
1 Neter-baiu, and who may also have been one

o of the immediate successors of Pepi II.
These stelae prove that the authority of the
last kings of the Vlth dynasty was as effective
in Coptos as in their capital, Memphis.
Besides these things remains were found of a temple of
Usertsen II, a temple of Thothmes III, which was restored by
the Ptolemies and several of the Roman Emperors. The
labours of Weill and Reinach, taken with the results obtained
by other workers, prove beyond all doubt that Coptos was a
very important town in early dynastic times, and that its
oldest god was Menu, who was probably worshipped there in
the Pre-dynastic Period. It owed its importance entirely to
its position on the great caravan route between the east and the
west, and its importance grew with the development of the routes
from Coptos to the Red Sea ports, firstly, by the Pharaohs, and
7
NEOLITHIC GRAVES AT NAKADAH. 61
next by the Ptolemies and Roman Emperors. These excava-

tions form a valuable supplement to those of Professor Petrie in
1903. Kfis, with 14,355 inhabitants, 425 miles from Cairo, on
the east bank of the Nile, marks the site of the city called
Apollinopolis Parva by the Greeks, and Qeset by the Egyptians.
In the mountains near Kris are a large number of tombs which
were “ usurped ” by wealthy and important Greeks during the
Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. From these much jewellery
of a massive kind has been brought by the natives in recent
years, and if the reports current about the treasures to be
found in these tombs be true, the whole site would well repay
excavation. Large necklaces, formed of Roman gold coins,
have also been found. To the west of the city stood the
monastery of St. Pisentius, who flourished in the seventh
century, and the well of water which is said to have been visited
by our Lord and the Virgin Mary and Joseph. The Copts
built numbers of churches in the neighbourhood. Nakadah,
with 8,112 inhabitants, 428 miles from Cairo, on the west bank
of the river, nearly opposite the island of Matarah, was the
home of a large number of Copts in early Christian times, and
several monasteries were situated there. The four which now
remain are dedicated to the Cross, St. Michael, St. Victor, and
St. George respectively, and tradition says that they were
founded by the Empress Helena ; the most important of them
is that of St. Michael. In 1897 M. de Morgan carried on
some important excavations here, and discovered a large
number of pre-historic tombs, and the tomb of a king called
Aha, who has, by some, been identified with Mena, the first
king of the 1st dynasty.
6i8
IV.— THE TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES.

LUXOR. — Cook’s Office, near Winter Palace Hotel.

Central Post Office in street leading to Railway Station there are ;
also Post Offices in theLuxor Winter Palace and Luxor Hotels.

Telegraph Office near Luxor Hotel.
—
Churches. English, in the grounds of the Luxor Hotel Sunday ;
services, 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Roman Catholic, close to the Austrian
Consul’s Office.
Excursions to Karnak, Tombs of the Kings, etc. ;
the Colossi of
Amen-hetep III (Memnon), Der al-Bahari, etc.
Luxor, 450 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the river,
isa small town with 12,644 inhabitants, and owes its import-
ance to the fact that it is situated close to the ruins of the
temples of the ancient city of Thebes. The name of Luxor is
a corruption of the Arabic name of the place, El-Uksfir, which
means “ the palaces.”
Little more than 25 years ago Luxor was nothing more than
a cluster of poorly built mud-houses, which stood close to the
edge of the river bank, and inside the various courts of the
Temple of Luxor. The village, as we may call it, was ill-kept
and ill-scavenged, its alleys were unlit at nights, and it was not
in a prosperous condition. In 1886 a great change came over
the place, for, owing to the enterprise of Messrs. Thos.
Cook and Son, British tourists began to come to Upper Egypt
in comparatively large numbers, and prosperity for the town
followed in their train. In December of that year Messrs.
Thos. Cook and Son inaugurated a new line of steamers which
ran at regular intervals from Cairo to Aswdn and back. The
advent of these steamers on the Nile marked a new era in the
history of river travel in Egypt, and the late Mr. John M. Cook,
who superintended their journeys personally, and devoted much
time and care to every detail of their management, was the
first to undertake the transformation of the dusty village of
Luxor into a town suitable for European travellers to live in.

He first caused steps to be built up the bank, the convenience
of which the natives were not slow to perceive, and he improved
and induced the local authorities to clean the
the river front,
streets and and to remove the stones which blocked
alleys,
the ways. He first enlarged and then rebuilt the old
Luxor Hotel, and inaugurated improvements everywhere.
THEBES. 619
Gradually the streets were widened, and as the trade which

followed in the wake of his steamers grew, the natives began
to build better houses for themselves, and European wares
began to fill the bazaars. Quite early in the history of
the modern development of Luxor, Mr. Cook founded
a hospital, and hundreds of the sick and suffering gladly and
promptly availed themselves of the medical assistance which he
provided gratis. In this, as in many other things too numerous
to mention, his sound advice, shrewd business capacity, and
ready generosity, laid the foundation of the prosperity which
has subsequently come to Luxor. He encouraged the natives
to learn new methods, and quietly and unostentatiously
supported struggling local undertakings until they were estab-
lished, and the trade which he enabled the natives to do with
his steamers literally “ made ” scores of villages on both banks
of the river. The great organizer of the tourist traffic of Egypt
was well called the “ friend of the poor,” and the “father of
Luxor.”
The of the Temple of Luxor was begun
excavation
by Maspero in 1883, and continued with conspicuous
Prof.
success by M. de Morgan. The houses inside the temple
were pulled down, the road along the river front was widened,
and the quay built, and several improvements were made at
both ends of Luxor. The sacred lake of the temple of Mut,
which had degenerated into a mere stagnant pool, was filled up,
to the great benefit of the community. The advent of the
railway from Cairo led to the introduction of carriages, and
these have brought about a great improvement in the roads to
Karnak and in those which traverse the town itself. The
resultant of the forces of civilization which have been brought
to bear on Luxor during the last few years is a clean, well-kept
town, and the waste of time, fatigue, and annoyance which used
to accompany a prolonged series of visits to the temples on
each side of the river are now things of the past. Nowhere in
Egypt can time more profitably or more comfortably be spent
than at Luxor. In recent years much has been done to
improve the town by the natives themselves, and many of the
new houses are substantial and comfortable dwellings. In
the year 1906 a new and handsome mosque was built and
dedicated to the service of Almighty God by a native of the
town, Al-Hagg Muhammad Muhassib Musa Ash-Shairi, who
isdescended from one of the Ashraf or “nobles” of Mekka,
who settled at Luxor in the fourteenth century, when Ab&
620 THEBES.
Hagag, the builder of the old mosque, which stood in one

of the temple courts, came to the town. The building stands
in the heart of Luxor, and is 59 feet long, 52 feet wide, and
23 feet high; the height of the minaret is about 122 feet.
The roof is supported by six columns of hard stone from
Akhmim, and has six windows, three on the north side, two
on the west side, and one on the south side ; there are doors
on the west, north, and south sides. Within the mosque is a
Hanafiyah, and the decoration is of a partly Muslim and
partly ancient Egyptian character. Over the main door is
the inscription in Arabic “ In the Name of God, the
:
“ Merciful, the Compassionate Say May God pray for the

! :
“ Apostle of God, and give him peace. He who buildeth for

“ God a house of worship shall the face of God, the Most
“ High, follow, and God shall build for him therein a
“ house of Paradise. Al-Hagg Muhammad Muhassib Mhsa
“ Ash-Shairi founded this House of Assembly in the year of
“ the Hijra 1323.” Provision has been made for a garden,
and when the buildings of the mosque are complete they will
include a number of alms-houses.
In connexion with the American Mission at Luxor may
be mentioned the Boarding School for Girls. This new
and commodious school, which stands on the right-hand side
of the road to Karnak, was opened to receive boarders and
day pupils on 24th February, 1905.
Ancient Thebes stood on both sides of the Nile, and was
generally called in hieroglyphics Uast ; that part of the city
which was situated on the east bank of the river, and
included the temples of Karnak and Luxor, appears to have
been called Apti, whence the Coptic TIG
and the name Thebes have been derived. The cuneiform

inscriptions and Hebrew Scriptures call it No, Nut,
“ the City ” (Ezek. xxx, and No-Amon,* /.<?., Nut-
14),
Amen, “ City of Amen ” (Nahum iii, 8), and the Greek
and Roman writers Diospolis Magna. It is certainly one of
the oldest cities of Egypt, but its founder is unknown some ;
say that, like Memphis, it was founded by Menes, and others

that it was a colony from Memphis. The proof of this
statement is supplied by the results of the splendid excava-
* In Egyptian,
® CAA Nut- Amen.
a I
Q
1 www ,
— ;
THEBES. 621
tions which have been made during the last few years
by M. George Legrain. During the course of his work
M. Legrain has discovered that the temple of Karnak of the
XVIIIth dynasty stood upon the remains of one of the Xlth
and Xllth dynasties, and that this in turn covered the site of
a temple which existed under the Second Dynasty, which
probably stood upon the ruins of a sanctuary of some
god who was worshipped there in the Pre-dynastic Period.
In short, M. Legrain has added nearly 2,000 years to the life-
history of the city of Thebes. It is certain, however, that it
did not become a city of the first importance until after the
decay of Memphis, and as the progress of Egyptian civilization
was, in the Dynastic Period, from north to south, this is only
what was to be expected.
The spot on which ancient Thebes stood is so adm'rably
adapted for the site of a great city that it would have been
impossible for the Egyptians to overlook it. The mountains
on the east and west sides of the river sweep away from it, and
leave a broad plain on each bank of several square miles in
extent. It has been calculated that modern Paris could stand
on this space of ground. We have, unfortunately, no Egyptian
description of Thebes, or any statement as to its size ; it may,
however, be assumed, from the remains of its buildings which
still exist, that the descriptions of the city as given by Strabo
and Diodorus are on the whole trustworthy. The fame of the

greatness of Thebes had reached the Greeks of Homer’s age,
and its “hundred gates” and 20,000 war chariots are leferred
to in Iliad IX, 3 81. The epoch in the history of Thebes
best known to us begins with the Xllth dynasty, but
the city did not reach its highest point of splendour until
the rule of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties over Egypt
as, little by little, the local god Amen-Ra became the great
god of all Egypt, so his dwelling-place Thebes gained in
importance and splendour. Its decline set in immedi-
ately after the death of Rameses III, 1200 b.c. The city
suffered severely at the hands of Cambyses, who left nothing
in it unburnt that fire would consume. Herodotus appears
never to have visited Thebes, and the account he gives
of it is not satisfactory ; the account of Diodorus, who saw
it about 57 b.c., is as follows :
“Afterwards reigned Busiris, and eight of his posterity after

“ him the last of which (of the same name with the first) built that
;
“ great city which the Egyptians call Diospolis, the Greeks Thebes ;
“it was in circuit 140 stades (about twelve miles), adorned with
:
622 THEBES.
‘stately public buildings, magnificent temples, and rich donations

“and revenues to admiration; and he built all the private houses,
“some four, some five stories high. And to sum up all in a word,
“ he made it not only the most beautiful and stateliest city of Egypt,
“ but of all others in the world. The fame therefore of the riches
“and grandeur of this city was so noised abroad in every place,
“ that the poet Homer takes notice of it
“ Nor Thebes so much renown’d,
‘
“ * Whose courts with unexhausted wealth abound,

“ Where through a hundred gates with marble arch
‘
“ To battle twenty thousand chariots march.’

‘
“ Although there are some that say it had not a hundred gates but ;
‘
that there were many large porches to the temples, whence the city
‘
“was called Hecatompylus a hundred gates, for many gates yet

, :
“that it was certain they had in it 20,000 chariots of war for there ;
“were a hundred stables all along the river from Memphis to

“ Thebes towards Lybia, each of which was capable to hold two
“hundred horses, the marks and signs of which are visible at this
“day. And we have it related, that not only jhis king, but the
“succeeding princes from time to time, made it their business
“ to beautify this city for that there was no city under the sun so
;
“adorned with so many and stately monuments of gold, silver, and

“ ivory, and multitudes of colossi and obelisks, cut out of one entire
“stone. For there were there four temples built, for beauty and
“ greatness to be admired, the most antient of which was in circuit
“ thirteen furlongs (about one and a half miles), and five and forty
“ cubits high, and had a wall twenty-four feet broad. The orna-
“ments of this temple were suitable for its magnificence, both for
“ cost and workmanship. The fabric hath continued to our time,
“ but the silver and the gold, and ornaments of ivory and precious
“ stones were carried away by the Persians when Cambyses burnt
“ the temples of Egypt. At which time they say those palaces at
“ Persepolis and Susa, and other parts of Media (famous all the
“world over), were built by the Persians, who brought over these
“rich spoils into Asia, and sent for workmen out of Egypt for that
“purpose. And it is reported, that the riches of Egypt were then
“ so great, that in the rubbish and cinders there were found and
“ gathered up above 300 talents of gold, and of silver no less than
“2,300, which was in the 108th Olympiad. There, they say, are the
“wonderful sepulchres of the antient kings, which for state and
“ grandeur far exceed all that posterity can attain unto at this day.
“The Egyptian priests say that in their sacred registers there are
“ entered 47 of these sepulchres but in the reign of Ptolemy Lagus
;
“there remained only 17, many of which were ruined and destroyed
“ when I myself came into those parts. The Thebans boast that they
“ were the most antient philosophers and astrologers of any people
“in the world, and the first that found out exact rules for the
“improvement both of philosophy and astrology; the situation of
“ their country being such as gave them an advantage over others,
“more clearly to discern the rising and setting of the stars: and
“ that the months and years are best and most properly ordered,
“and disposed by them for they measure their days according to
;
“the motion pf the sun, and not of the moon and account 30 days
;
—
THEBES. 623
‘‘to each month, and add 5J days to every 12 months and by this ;
“ means they complete the whole year but they add no intercalary
;
“ months, nor subtract any days, as it is the custom with many of

‘
the Greeks.
‘
But those of Thebes seem most accurately to have
“observed the eclipses of the sun and moon ; and from them do so
“ manage their prognostications, that they certainly foretell every
“particular event.” (Bk. I, chaps. 45, 46, Booth’s translation,
PP- 5 2 > 53 -)
Strabo, who visited Thebes about 24 b.c., says :
“ Next to the city of Apollo is Thebes, now called Diospolis,

“ ‘with her hundred gates, through each of which issue 200 men,
“ with horses and chariots,’ according to Homer, who mentions
‘
‘
also its wealth
‘
not all the wealth the palaces of Egyptian
;
‘
“‘Thebes contain.’ Other writers use the same language, and

“ consider Thebes as the metropolis of Egypt. Vestiges of its
“ magnitude still exist, which extend 80 stadia (about nine miles) in
“length. There are a great number of temples, many of which
“ Cambyses mutilated. The spot is at present occupied by villages.
“One part of it, in which is the city, lies in Arabia; another is in
“ the country on the other side of the river, where is the Memnonium.
“ Here are two colossal figures near one another, each consisting of
“ a single stone. One is entire the upper parts of the other, from
;
“ the chair, are fallen down, the effect, it is said, of an earthquake.

“ It is believed that once a day a noise as of a slight blow issues
“ from the part of the statue which remains in the seat and on its
“base. When I was at those places with Êlius Gallus, and
“ numerous friends and soldiers about him, I heard a noise at the
“first hour (of the day), but whether proceeding from the base or
“ from the colossus, or produced on purpose by some of those
“ standing around the base, I cannot confidently assert. For from
“ the uncertainty of the cause, I am disposed to believe anything
“rather than that stories disposed in that manner could send forth
“ sound. Above the Memnonium are tombs of kings in caves, and
“ hewn out of the stone, about forty in number they are executed;
“with singular skill and are worthy of notice. Among the tombs
“ are obelisks with inscriptions, denoting the wealth of the kings of
“that time, and the extent of their empire, as reaching to the
“Scythians, Bactrians, Indians and the present Ionia; the amount
“of tribute also, and the number of soldiers, which composed an
“ army of about a million of men. The priests there are said to be,
“for the most part, astronomers and philosophers. The former
“ compute the days not by the moon, but by the sun, introducing
“ into the twelve months, of thirty days each, five days every year.
“ But in order to complete the whole year, because there is (annually)
“ an excess of a part of a day, they form a period from out of whole
“ days and whole years, the supernumerary portions of which in
“that period, when collected together, amount to a day. They
“ascribe to Mercury (Thoth) all knowledge of this kind. To
“ Jupiter, whom they worship above all other deities, a virgin of the
“ greatest beauty and of the most illustrious family (such persons
“ the Greeks call pallades) is dedicated ” (Bk. XVII,
chap. I, sec. 46, translated by Falconer.)
624 THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR.
-)
1820.
3
pi.
about
iii,
tom.
appeared
,
Egypte
it
as V
de
Luxor,
of Description
Temple
(From
The
—
THEBES — RIGHT BANK. 625
Right or East Bank of the Nile :
1. The Temple of Luxor. —

Compared with Karnak, the
temple of Luxor is not of the greatest importance, and up to
about 1890 the greater part of its courts and chambers was
buried by the accumulated rubbish and mud, upon which a
large number of houses stood. The excavation of the ruins of
this temple was begun by M. Maspero, who, with the help of
several hundred pounds collected by public subscription by the
Journal des Debats began the work in the winter of 1883, and
,
it was prosecuted with such vigour that the natives almost

resisted by force the removal of the soil upon which their
houses stood. The residence of the British Consul Mustafa
‘Agha actually stood inside the temple, and he and other
owners of houses there were compensated when their dwellings
were pulled down. In 1887 M. Grebaut, the successor of
M. Maspero, continued the clearing, and shortly afterwards
M. Grand Bey, a distinguished official of the Egyptian Govern-
ment, and a skilled practical architect, was appointed to
report on the means which ought to be taken to prevent the
collapse of the temple remains, which was beginning to take place
owing to the removal of the earth from the walls and pillars.
In 1888 and the following years much clearing was done,
and many portions of the building were strengthened with
modern masonry, and now it is possible for the visitor to
walk about in the temple and get an idea of its general plan.
The temple is built of sandstone, and stands, probably,
upon the site of an earlier religious edifice; it formed an
important part of the sacred buildings of Thebes, which
were dedicated to the Theban triad of Amen-Ra, f]

l~“ ® M j
>
1/WWVA I Sli
Mut, i
,
and Khensu, ,
and was called
O !
“The House of Amen in the Southern Apt/’ to distinguish it
from “ The House of Amen in the Northern Apt,” i.e., Karnak.

It was built by Amenophis III about 1500 b.c., and was at that
time the most beautiful temple in Egypt ; it was nearly 500 feet
long and about 180 feet wide, and was connected with Karnak
by means of a paved way, on each side of which was arranged
a row of rams with their faces turned towards its main axis.
Soon after the death of Amenophis III, his son, the heretic
king Amenophis IV, ordered the name and figure of the god
Amen to be erased throughout the temple, and built a small
2 R
626 TEMPLE OF LUXOR.
shrine or chapel near his father’s

great work in honour of the god
Aten. The building was not popu-
lar among the Egyptians, for on
the death of Amenophis IV it was
pulled down, and the stones wêre
employed in other parts of the
main edifice. Heru-em-heb and
Seti I added a number of bas-
reliefs, and Rameses II built the
large colonnade, a large courtyard
with a pylon, two obe-
porticoes,
lisks, and some
colossal statues.
This last king, in building the
courtyard and pylons, made their
axes to be in continuation of that
of the paved way which led to
Karnak, instead of that of the
colonnade and other parts of the
temple.
During the rule of the Persians
over Egypt the temple was sacked
and burnt, but under the Ptolemies
the damage was partially made
good; in 27 b.c. the temple was
greatly damaged by the earthquake
which wrecked many a noble
temple and tomb in Egypt, and a
little later the stones which had
been thrown down from the walls
and columns were employed in
building a barrier to keep out the
waters from the city. But the
damage wrought by the Christians
in the Luxor temple was, as at Der
al-Bahari, terrible
;
for, not content
with turning certain sections of it
into churches, the more fanatical
among them smashed statues, and
disfigured bas-reliefs, and wrecked
shrines with characteristic savage
and ignorant zeal. When the
The Temple of Luxor. Christians could afford to build
River.
the
of
Bank
East
or
Right
the
on
Temples
2 R ?.
churches for themselves they forsook the temple, and then the
inhabitants of the town began to build mud houses for them-
selves in the courtyard and other parts of the building. As
these fell down year by year, the natives, who never repair a
building if they can help it, built new ones on the old sites,
and thus the temple became filled with earth and rubbish.
In the fourteenth century a mosque was built in the large
courtyard of Rameses II by the descendants of a Muhammadan
saint, who is said to have flourished near Mecca either during
the life of Muhammad the Prophet or shortly after ; this saint
was called Abu Haggag, and several families now living at
Luxor claim him as an ancestor.
The Obelisk, hewn out of fine Aswan granite, is one of a
pair which stood before the pylon of the temple and proclaimed
the names and titles of Rameses II ;
it is nearly 82 feet high.
The companion obelisk now stands in the Place de la Concorde

in Paris ; under the Commune an attempt was made to throw
it down by the mob, but it failed. The front of the temple
was ornamented with six colossal statues of Rameses II, four
standing and two seated, but of the former three have been
destroyed. The seated statues, one on each side of the door,
were of black granite, and on the side of the throne of the
one which now remains are conventional representations of
members of vanquished nations. The top of the pylon when
first built was about 80 feet above the ground, and its width was
nearly 1 00 feet each of its towers was hollow, and in their front
;
walls were channels with sockets in the ground, in which large

poles with flags flying from them were placed when Thebes was
keeping a festival. The face of the pylon is covered with
sculptures and texts which refer to the dedication of the pylon
to Amen-Ra, and to the victory of Rameses II over the Kheta.
The battle, which took place near the city of Kadesh on the
Orontes, resulted in the overthrow of a great confederation of
Syrian tribes, and Rameses was greatly elated at his victory.
Among the texts on the pylon is a description of the fight written
by one Pen = ta = urt, and this poetical narrative of the momen-
tous event was so much esteemed by the king that he ordered it to
be inscribed on stelae and many public buildings throughout
the country. The outsides of the walls built by Rameses II
are covered with scenes relating to the same campaign and
describing the king in triumph.
The doorway of the Court of Rameses II (a) contains
reliefs by Shabaka, a king of the XXVth dynasty, and in
THEBES RIGHT BANK. 629
the north-west corner are the ruins of a small chapel which

Rameses II built against the pylon a portico with two rows
;
of pillars runs round most of the four sides. Of the reliefs

on the walls some date from the reign of Amenophis III
and Heru-em-heb, but most of them have been usurped by
Rameses II : here also are figures of personifications of
geographical localities bearing offerings, and in the south-west
corner are figures of 17 of the sons of Rameses II, who are
making offerings at the ceremony of the dedication of the pylon.
These are followed by a number of sacrificial scenes. The
columns of the portico are 72 in number, and have lotus
capitals; on each is a relief representing Rameses II making
an offering either to Amen-Ra, or Menu, and some goddess.
The little chapel in the north-west corner contains three
chambers, which are dedicated respectively to Amen-Ra, Mut,
and Khensu. On each side of the doorway which leads into
the colonnade Rameses II placed a huge black granite statue
of himself, and between the columns close by were 1 1 statues
of himself in red granite ; on the side of each of these last is a
figure of one of his wives.
The Colonnade (b) beyond the courtyard of Rameses II is
a part of the original building of Amenophis III, though the
names of many other kings are found in it ; but it is doubtful
if any of the reliefs on the walls were made by him ; the scenes
represent the celebration of the festival of Amen-Ra, the

procession of sacred boats to the Nile and back, the ceremonies
in the shrine, etc., and many of them date from the time of
Heru-em-heb. The lotus columns, 14 in number, are massive
but beautifully proportioned ; they are about 5 1 feet high, and
about 1 1 feet in diameter. The Court of Amenophis III (c)
is next reached. Round three sides of this runs a colonnade with
two rows of columns, and the walls are decorated with reliefs be-
longing to various periods, from that of Amenophis III to that of
Alexander and Philip. Beyond this courtyard is a hall containing
32 columns ; the walls are ornamented with reliefs of various
periods, and the occurrence of the names of several kings in this
portion of the building shows that, in parts, it has been often re-
paired. To the left, between the last two columns, is an altar of
the Roman period, with a Latin inscription dedicating it to the
Emperor Augustus. Passing through the doorway, a chamber
which originally had eight columns is entered ; this was altered
in several ways, and turned into a church by the Christians,
who plastered over the interesting reliefs of the time of
—
Amenophis III with lime, and then painted it with elaborate

designs in bright colours. On each side of this chamber is a
small chapel ; that on the left was dedicated to Mut, and that
on the right to Khonsu. Leaving the chamber which was turned
into a Christian church, and passing through a smaller chamber
with four columns, the shrine of Alexander the Great is
reached. In the time of Amenophis III it contained four
columns, but these Alexander removed, and turned it into a
shrine in place of the old shrine which was originally in the last
room of the building. In the centre a rectangular building
open at both ends was built, and within this was carefully
preserved the sacred boat of Ra, wherein was seated a figure of
the god. The walls of this shrine are ornamented with reliefs,
in which Amenophis III is seen adoring the various gods of
Thebes ; the ceiling is decorated with figures of vultures and a
large number of five-rayed stars painted in yellow on a blue
ground. Through a doorway on the left in the sanctuary, and
through a second doorway immediately on the left of it, the
chamber on which is depicted the Birth of Amenophis III
is reached ; the roof of the chamber is supported by three
columns with lotus capitals. Here on the west wall are the
following scenes, arranged in three rows :
First or Lowest Rozv. — (1) Khnemu, seated opposite Isis,

fashioning the body of the young king and his ka or double
upon a potter’s wheel ; he predicts that the child shall be king
of Egypt. (2) Amen and Khnemu holding converse. (3) Amen
and Mut-em-ua, wife of Thothmes IV, and mother of Ameno-
phis III, holding converse in the presence of the goddesses
Selq, or Serq, and Neith. In the text the god Amen declares
that he had taken the form of the husband of Mut-em-ua, and
that he is the father of the child who is to be born. (4) Amen
and Thothmes IV. (5) Mut-em-ua being embraced by the
goddess Isis in the presence of Amen. Second or Middle
—
Row (1) Thoth telling the queen that Amen has given her a
.
son. (2) The queen being great with child, is being sustained
by Khnemu and Isis, who make her to breathe “life.” (3) The
child is born in the presence of Thoueris, the goddess of
children, and Bes, the driver away of evd spirits from the bed
(4) Isis offering the child to Amen, who
of birth. addresses
him “ son of the Sun.”
as (5) The child
Amenophis III
seated on the knees of Amen, whilst his destiny is being decreed
in thepresence of Isis or Hathor ;
Mut offers to him a palm
branch, at the end of which is the emblem of festivals, Amen
declares that he will give him “ millions of years, like the

Sun.” —
Third or Top Row. (t) The queen seated on the bed
of birth, and the child being suckled by Hathor in the form of
a cow. (2) The seven Hathors (?) and two goddesses. (3) The
Niles of the South and North purifying the child. (4) Horus
presenting the king and his ka to Amen. (5) The gods
Khnemu and Anubis. (6) The king and his ka seated and
standing before Amen. (7) The king seated on his throne.
The scenes on the south wall refer to the acknowledgment
of his sovereignty by the gods of Egypt. The remaining
chambers of the temple are not of any special interest. It
will be noted that the idea of the scenes of the Birth Chamber
is copied from the temple of Hatshepset at Der al-Bahari.
The Temple at Karnak. The ruins of the buildings

2.
at Karnak are perhaps the most wonderful of any in Egypt,
and they merit many visits from the traveller. It is probable
that this spot was “ holy ground ” from a very early to a very
late period, and we know that a number of kings from
Usertsen I to Ptolemy IX lavished much wealth to make
splendid the famous shrine of Amen in the Apts, and other
temples situated there. The temples of Luxor and Karnak
were united by an avenue about 6,500 feet long and 80 feet
wide, on each side of which was arranged a row of sphinxes ;
from the fact that these monuments are without names,
M. Mariette thought that the avenue was constructed at the
expense of the priests or the wealthy inhabitants of the town,
just as in later days the pronaos of the temple at Denderah was
built by the people of that town. At the end of this avenue,
to the right, is a road which leads to the so-called Temple of
Mut, which was also approached by an avenue of sphinxes.
Within the enclosure there stood originally two temples, both
of which were dedicated to Amen, built during the reign of
Amenophis III ; Rameses II erected two obelisks in front
of the larger temple. To the north-west of these a smaller
temple was built in Ptolemaic times, and the ruins on one side
of it show that the small temples which stood there were either
founded or restored by Rameses II, Osorkon, Tekeleth,
Sabaco, Nectanebus 1 and the Ptolemies.
,
Behind the temple
enclosure are the remains of a temple dedicated to Ptah of
Memphis by Thothmes III ; the three doors behind it and
the courts into which they lead were added by Sabaco,
Tirhakah, and the Ptolemies.
Returning to the end of the avenue of sphinxes which leads
;
;
632 TEMPLE OF KARNAK. 1
from Luxor to Karnak, a second smaller avenue ornamented

with a row of ram-headed sphinxes on each side is entered a: ;
the end of it stands the splendid pylon built by Ptolemy IX,

Euergetes II. Passing through the door, a smaller avenue of
sphinxes leading to the temple built by Rameses III is reached
the small avenue of sphinxes and eight of its columns were
added by Rameses XII. This temple was dedicated to
Khensu, and appears to have been built upon the site of an
ancient temple of the time of Amenophis III. To the
west of this temple is a smaller temple built by Ptolemy IX,
Euergetes II.
3. great Temple of Amen at Karnak fronted the
The
Nile,and was approached by means of a small avenue of ram-
headed sphinxes which were placed in position by Rameses II.
Passing through the first pylon, a court or hall, having a
double row of pillars down the centre, is entered ; on each
side is a corridor with a row of columns. On the right-hand
(south) side are the ruins of a temple built by Rameses III,
and on the left are those of another built by Seti II. This
court or hall was the work of Shashanq, the first king of
the XXI Ind dynasty. On each side of the steps leading
through the second pylon was a colossal statue of Rameses II
that on the right-hand side has now disappeared.
Passing through this pylon, the famous “Hall of Columns ”
is entered. The 12 columns forming the double row in the
middle are about 60 feet high and about 35 feet in circum-
ference ; the other columns, 122 in number, are about 40 feet
high and 27 feet in circumference. Rameses I set up one
column, Seti I, the builder of this hall, set up 79, and the
remaining 54 were set up by Rameses II. It is thought that
this hall was originally roofed over. At the end of it is the
third pylon, wdfich was built by Amenophis III, and served
as the entrance to the temple until the time of Rameses I.
Between this and the next pylon is a narrow passage, in the
middle of which stood two obelisks which were set up
by Thothmes I ; the southern one is still standing, and bears
the names of this king, but the northern one has fallen,* and its
fragments show that Thothmes III caused his name to be
carved on it. At the southern end of this passage are the
remains of a gate built by Rameses IX. The fourth and fifth
pylons were built by Thothmes I. Between them stood
14 columns, six of which were set up by Thothmes I, and eight
* It was standing when Poeopke visited Egypt in 1 737" 1 739-
—
by Amenophis II, and two granite obelisks ;

one of the obelisks
still They were hewn out of the granite quarry by
stands.
the command of Hatshepset, the daughter of Thothmes I,
and sister of Thothmes II and aunt of Thothmes III.
This able woman set them up in honour of “ father Amen,
5'
and she relates in the inscriptions on the base of the standing

Plans of Karnak 1-3.
1. Karnak before the time of Thothmes I, 1550 b.c.

2. Karnak during the reign of Thothmes I.
I
3 .
3. Karnak during the reign of Queen Hatshepset, 1500 b.c.

From Mariette, Karnak ,
PI. VI.
obelisk that she covered their tops with tcham metal, i.e., gold
containing a large proportion of silver, so that they could be
seen from a very great distance, and that she had them hewn
and brought down to Thebes in about seven months. These
obelisks were brought into their chamber from the south side,
and were 98 feet and 105 feet high respectively; the masonry
round their bases is of the time of Thothrpes III.
634 TEMPLE OF KARNAK.
The sixth pylon and the two walls which flank it on the
north and south are the work of Thothmes III, but Seti II,
Rameses III, and Rameses IV have added their cartouches
to them. On this pylon are inscribed a large number of
geographical names of interest. Passing through it the visitor
.finds himself in a vestibule which leads into a red granite
oblong chamber, inscribed with the name of Philip III of
Macedon, which is often said to have formed the sanctuary.
Plan of Karnak — 4.
Karnak during the reign of Thothmes III, 1500 B.c.

PI. VI.
In the chambers on each side of are found the names ot

it
Amenophis I, Thothmes I, Thothmes II, Hatshepset, and

Thothmes III. The sanctuary stood in the centre of the large
court beyond the two oblong red granite pedestals. In ancient
days, when Thebes was pillaged by her conquerors, it would
seem that special care was taken to uproot not only the shrine,
—
THEBES — RIGHT BANK. 6 35
but the very foundations upon which it rested. Some frag-

ments of columns inscribed with the name of Usertsen I found
there prove, however, that its foundation dates from the reign
of this king. Beyond the sanctuary court is a large building of
the time of Thothmes III. In it was found the famous
Tablet of Ancestors, now in Paris, where this king is seen
making offerings to a number of his royal ancestors. On the
Plan of Karnak 5.
Karnak during the reign of Amenophis III, 1450 B.c.

PI. VI.
north side of the building is the chamber in which he made his

offerings,and on the east side is a chamber where he adored
the hawk, the emblem of the Sun-god Ra ; this latter chamber
was restored by Alexander II (of Egypt). Behind the great
temple, and quite distinct from it, was another small temple.
On the south side of the great temple was a lake which was
filled by infiltration from the Nile ; it appears only to have
been used for processional purposes, as water for ablutionary
636 TEMPLE OF KARNAK.
and other purposes was drawn from the well on the north side
of the interior of the temple. The lake was dug during the
reign of Thothmes III, and its stone quays probably belong to
the same period.
Plan of Karnak— 6.
Karnak under Rameses II, 1333 B.c.

From Mariette, Karnak PL VII.
,
Passing through the gate at the southern end of the passage

in which stands the obelisk of Hatshepset, a long avenue with
four pylons is entered ; the first was built by Thothmes III,
the second by Thothmes I, and the third and fourth by
THEBES RIGHT BANK. 6 37
Heru-em-heb. Between these last two, on the east side, stood

a temple built by Amenophis II. On the north side of the
Great Temple are the ruins of two smaller buildings which
belong to the time of the XXVIth dynasty.
The outside of the north wall of the Gr6at Hall of Columns
is ornamented with some interesting scenes from the battles of
Seti I against the peoples who lived to the north-east of Syria

and in Mesopotamia, called Shasu, Rutennu, and Kharu. The
king is represented as having conquered all these people, and
returning to Thebes laden with much spoil and bringing many
captives. It is doubtful if the events really took place in the
order in which they are depicted ; but the fidelity to nature,
and the spirit and skill with which these bas-reliefs have been
executed, make them some of the most remarkable sculptures
known. The scene in which Seti I is shown grasping the hair
of the heads of a number of people, in the act of slaying them,
is symbolic.
The outside of the south wall is ornamented with a large

scene in which Shashanq (Shishak), the first king of the
XXI Ind dynasty, is represented smiting a group of kneeling
prisoners ; the god Amen, in the form of a woman, is standing
by presenting him with weapons of war. Here also are
150 cartouches, surmounted by heads, in which are written
the names of the towns captured by Shishak. The type of
features given to these heads by the sculptor shows that the
vanquished peoples belonged to a branch of the great Semitic
family. The hieroglyphics in one of the cartouches were sup-
posed to read “ the king of Judah,” and to represent Jeroboam,
who was vanquished by Shishak ; it has now been proved con-
clusively that they form the name of a place called Iuta-melek.
Passing along to the east, the visitor comes to a wall at right
angles to the first, upon which is inscribed a copy of the poem
of Pen-ta-urt, celebrating the victory of Rameses II over the
Kheta, in the fifth year of his reign ; and on the west side of the
wall is a stele on which is set forth a copy of the offensive and
defensive treaty between this king and the prince of the Kheta.
The inscriptions on the magnificent ruins at Karnak show
that from the time of Usertsen I, 2433 b.c., to that of
Alexander II, 312 b.c. (?), the religious centre of Upper Egypt
was at Thebes, and that the most powerful of the kings of
Egypt who reigned during this period spared neither pains nor
expense in adding to and beautifying the temples there. In
fact, it was as much a pleasure as a duty for a king to repair
1
6 38 TEMPLE OF KARNAK.
A. Walls standing before the time oi I. Columns, walls, and statues of Rameses 1
Thothmes I. J. Temple of Seti II.
B. Pylons built by Thothmes I. K. Temple of Rameses III.
C. Walls and obelisks of Idatshepset. L. Gateway of Rameses IX.
D. Walls, pylon, etc., of Thothmes III. M. Pillars and walls of the XXIInd dynasty
E. Gateway of Thothmes IV. N. Pillars of Tirhakah.
F. Pylon of Amenophis III. O. Corridor of Philip III of Macedon.
G. Pylon of Rameses I. P. Chamber and shrine of Alexander II.
H. Walls and columns of Seti I. Q. Pylon built by the Ptolemies.
the old buildings of the famous shrine of Karnak, or to build

new ones, for the walls and pylons of that ancient sanctuary
constituted a book of fame in the best and greatest sense in
the opinion of the Egyptians. The fury of the elements, the
attacks of Egypt’s enemies, and the yearly rise of the Nile have
all contributed powerfully towards the destruction of these
splendid buildings ; but what has helped most of all to injure
them is the weakness of the foundations of their walls and
columns, and the insufficiency of their bases. So long as the
columns were partly buried in earth and rubbish, very little
strain was put upon them, and they appeared sound enough ;
but when the masses of earth which surrounded their bases
were removed, experts declared that a number of them would
fall. In 1899 11 of the columns in the Great Hall at
Karnak did fall, and an examination of their foundations
showed the reasons, viz., insufficiency of base, poor founda-
tions, and to these may be added, as Sir W. Garstin said,
unstable equilibrium of the soil caused by alteration of the
levels of the Nile. Much injury has, of course, also been
caused to the stones of the columns by the salts which were
present in the masses of earth which formerly surrounded
them. It is satisfactory to be able to state that funds were
found by Lord Cromer, and that the 1 1 columns have
been re-erected to their full height. Each stone has been
placed in its former position, and the work of replacing the
capitals and the architraves has been carried out in such a way
that the restored columns will not be over-weighted. This fine
piece of restoration has been effected by M. George Legrain,
who is in charge of all the work connected with the restoration.
He has rebuilt the columns very skilfully, without accident or
damage to a single stone, and his energy and devotion to the
work deserve the gratitude of all lovers of antiquity. Under
his care, excavation and restoration go hand in hand, and,
when his work is finished, the best result is to be anticipated.
During the course of the work at Karnak, M. Legrain made
a “ find ” of statues of unparalleled historical interest ; as Sir
William Garstin says, nothing like it has been made since
Mariette Pasha’s excavations at the Serapeum. It seems that
in 1883 M. Maspero sank some trial shafts near the seventh
pylon of the Temple of Karnak, and was rewarded by the
discovery of a large number of pieces of statues, and architec-
tural fragments of considerable size. In 1901 and 1902,
M. Legrain began work at this place, and, among other things,
640 THEBES RIGHT BANK.
found several fine reliefs of Amen-hetep I. Inasmuch as these

reliefs showed no signs of the hammering out of the name of
Amen which took place in the reign of Amen-hetep IV, it
was clear that they had been cast down from their places in
the reign of some earlier king of the XVIIIth dynasty.
Subsequently monuments of the reigns of Hatshepset and
Thothmes III were discovered, and also a statue of the period
of Seti I. In 1903, when the work was continued, M. Legrain
discovered a vast pit literally filled with statues which had been
cast into it by the order of some king who was about to repair
or enlarge the Temple of Karnak. As a result of the excavations
of 1903, M. Legrain brought up out of the pit 457 statues in
granite, alabaster, calcareous stone, basalt, breccia, quartz,
mother-of-emerald, sandstone, petrified wood, etc. ; 7 stone
sphinxes, 5 sacred animals, 15 stelae in granite, etc. ; 3 figures
of Osiris in lead and 40 in stone ; and 8,000 bronze figures of
Osiris and other gods ; in all 8,5 19 objects. Work was resumed
in 1905, and 170 more statues were discovered, and 8,000
figures of Osiris in bronze, etc.; in all 8,268 objects. The
oldest statue found clearly belongs to the period of Kha-sekhemui
a ^^ . Of the Xlth dynasty was found the statue of
a king called Menthu-hetep with ê pre-

J >
nomen of Mer-ankh-Ra and a portion of a
statue of a king called Se-ankh-ka-Ra

^
O P UJ .
”
Of kings of the XHIth and XIVth dynasties the “ find
at Karnak supplies the following rare names Khu-taui- : —
Ra [© *•/ Mer-sekhem-Ra Nefer-hetep (III)
anc* Mer-hetep-Ra Sebek

Q -
HETEP (VIII) [g
CMS) A fragment
of a small obelisk also supplies

m
of Sebek-em-sa-f I, Hetep-neteru, and a portion of his
prenomen. Statues of the XVIIIth dynasty are numerous,
the Horus name
and the most important of them historically is that of Tut-

ankh-Amen, which was usurped by Heru-em-heb. The statues
which belong to the XXIInd dynasty are of great value

historically, and supply a number of important data, which
enable us to fix the order of some of its kings with considerable
accuracy. Of a later period the statues of king Tirhakah and
the princess Ankh-nes-nefer-ab-Ra are of special interest, and
we learn that the prenomen of the latter was Mut-heq-nefert
The following summary of the results of this
great discovery derived from a paper read by M. Legrain on

November 7th, 1904, at a meeting of the Egyptian Institute in
Cairo, will help the reader to appreciate the great importance
of the “find.” In the course of the work in 1903 M. Legrain
lighted upon a on the southern side of the
sort of pit or cachette
ruins, in which, in the midst of mud and water, innumerable
statues were piled pele-mele, one upon the other. Along with them
were bronzes, which included about a thousand gilded bronze
figures of Osiris, as well as other objects. The fact that most
of the monuments were below the present level of the water
made the labour of excavating very considerable, but before
the season was over M. Legrain was rewarded by the discovery
of 450 statues of stone, in a more or less perfect state of
preservation, and 170 more in 1905. These have now been
transferred to the Cairo Museum.
Among the statues are many royal ones. Perhaps the most
remarkable, and certainly the most unexpected, are those of
kings of the Old Empire, which settle once for all the antiquity
of the great Theban sanctuary. The series begins with a
statue which, from its likeness to the statue of Khasekhemui, is
assigned by M. Legrain to the Ilnd dynasty, and is followed
by statues of Khufu or Cheops, of User-en Ra and of Sahu-Ra,
of the IVth and Vth. The Xlth dynasty is represented
by a statue of Mentu hetep, and a headless seated statue of
Antef-aa, whom the dedicator of the image, Usertsen I,
describes as his forefather. There are some fine statues of the
kings of the Xllth and Xlllth dynasties, some hitherto unknown
Pharaohs being included among the latter, as well as a sphinx
of magnificent workmanship, the features of which recall those
of the so-called Hyksos sphinxes of the Delta. As might be
expected, the kings and queens of the XVIIIth dynasty are
numerous. The figure of Thothmes III, in fact, is the chef
cCceuvre of the whole collection, and is one of the most
beautiful works of art that have been bequeathed to us by
antiquity. It is extremely interesting also for another reason.
2 s
6 \2 THEBES — RIGHT BANK.
The profile of the face European rather than Egyptian, and

is
reminds us of the statuary of classical Greece. Another

interesting statue is that of the “ heretic king,” Amen-hetep IV,
in fossil wood. This too is evidently a portrait, and makes it
clear that the usual representations of the king are mere cari-
catures. His face as seen in this statue is that of a dreamy
visionary, and, though somewhat plain, is very far from being
ugly or repulsive. Next to the portrait-statue of Thothmes III,
however, the finest artistic work is a statue of Tutankh-Amen,
whose features, as M. Legrain pointed out, have been repro-
duced in a beautiful statue of the god Khensu, which must
therefore have been executed in his reign, though usurped by
Heru-em-heb. A statue of Rameses II must also be noticed
for its artistic finish, though it lacks the strength of the earlier
work ;
and, coming down to later times, a statue of the
Ethiopian king, Taharqa, worthy of attention. One of
is also
the statues is shown byGreek drapery to belong to the
its
Ptolemaic epoch. Besides the royal images, there is an

immense number of statues of the priests and prophets of
Amen and other high officials. From one or two of these
M. Legrain has skilfully extracted important historical informa-
tion. Thus a genealogy which goes back for sixteen generations
to a certain Sheben makes the tenth descendant of the latter a
contemporary of Shishak, the founder of the XXIInd dynasty,
and introduces us to a new king, Heru-sa-Ast, who must have
lived in the time of Osorkon II. As Brugsch was the first to
point out, these genealogies are the best means we have at
present for controlling the chronology of ancient Egypt.
Another monument is interesting as the memorial of the
general who was sent by Psammetichus against the revolted
troops whose rebellion is described by Herodotus, while yet
another shows that the XXIst and XXIIIrd dynasties must have
been contemporaneous, thus explaining the puzzlingly long
period which the monuments assign to the XXIInd dynasty.
One of the most important results of M. Legrain’s discovery
is the evidence it furnishes that up to the Greek age the
Egyptian temples contained all the materials needful for re-
constructing the past history of the country. They were filled
with inscribed statues and other monuments which formed a
continuous series of contemporaneous documents from the
earliest period of the kingdom. Herodotus is thus shown to
have said no more than the truth when he declared that
Hecataeus had seen at Thebes the statues of 345 high priests
—
THEBES— LEFT BANK. 643
of Amen who had followed one another in a regular succession.

It isa fresh proof that the vast antiquity to which Egyptian
history lays claim is really founded on fact. In a luminous
and eloquent address delivered by way of conclusion to
M. Legrain’s paper, M. Maspero explained how such an extra-
ordinary collection of statues came to have been buried. After
its destruction, first by the Assyrians and then by the Persians,
Thebes lay neglected and in ruins until the time of the earlier
Ptolemies, who, in their desire to conciliate the natives and be
regarded as the representatives of the ancient Pharaohs, under-
took the restoration of the venerable sanctuary of Amen. But
the problem presented itself, what to do with the numberless
statues, many of them half-broken, which were scattered among
the ruins. They had neither artistic nor historical value in the
eyes of the restorers, but a belief in their sacred, or rather
magical, character prevented them from being destroyed.
They were therefore buried out of the way, and new buildings
erected on the foundations which they helped to form.
The fact that the latest of the statues found is of the Greek
period indicates pretty clearly the date at which their entomb-
ment took place.
4. The Temple of Madamtit. It was founded by Amen-
hetep II, and is worth a visit.
Left or West Bank of the Nile :
1. The Temple of Ktirnah. —

This temple was built by
Seti I in memory of his father
Rameses I ;
it was completed by
Rameses II, by whom it was re-
dedicated to the memory of his
1111 "l-T
father Seti Two- pylons stood
I.
| M M before it, and joining them was an

—J**! Avenue of Sphinxes. This temple
l ICS i
was to all intents and purposes a

• •Mt cenotaph, and as such its position
on the edge of the desert, at the
entrance to a necropolis, is ex-
Plan of the Temple at Kurnah
plained j n thg temple were six
columns, and on each side were several small chambers. The
sculptures on the walls represent Rameses II making offerings
to the gods, among whom are Rameses I and Seti I.
According to an inscription there, it is said that Seti I went
to heaven and was united with the Sun-god before the temple
was finished, and that Rameses II made and fixed the doors,
2 s 2
644 THEBES— LEFT BANK.
River.
the
of
Bank
West
or
Left
the
on
etc.,
Tombs,
Temples,
THE RAMESSEUM. 645
finished the building of the walls, and decorated the interior.

The workmanship in parts of this temple recalls that of certain
parts of Abydos ;
it is probable that the same artists were
employed.
2. The Ramesseum. — This temple, called also the
Memnonium and the Tomb of Osymandyas (Diodorus I,
iv), was built by Rameses II, in

honour of Amen-Ra. As at
Kurnah, two pylons stood in front
of it. The first court had a*
single row of pillars on each side
of it passing up a flight of steps,
;
and through the second pylon

is a second court, having a
double row of round columns
on the east and west sides, a
single row on the north, and
a row of pilasters, to which large
figures of Rameses II under
the form of Osiris are attached,
on the north and south sides.
Before the second pylon stood
a colossal statue of Rameses II,
at least 60 feet high, which has
been thrown down (by Cam-
byses ?), turned over on its back,
and mutilated. In the hall are
12 huge columns, arranged in
two rows, and 48 smaller ones
arranged in six rows. On the
interior face of the second pylon
are sculptured scenes in the
war of Rameses II against the
Kheta, which took place in the
fifth year of his reign in them he is represented slaying the per-
;
sonal attendants of the prince of the Kheta. Elsewhere is the

famous scene in which Rameses, having been forsaken by his army,
is seen cutting his way through the enemy, and hurling them one
after the other into the Orontes near Kadesh. The walls of the
temple are ornamented with small battle scenes and reliefs re-
presenting the king making offerings to the gods of Thebes. On
the ceiling of one of the chambers is an interesting astronomical
piece on which the 12 Egyptian months are mentioned.
—
646 THEBES— DIODORUS ON THE RAMESSEUM.
The following is the account of the Tomb of Osymandyas

given by Diodorus :
“ And these things are not only reported by the Egyptian priests,
“ out of their sacred records, but many of the Grecians, who
“ travelled to Thebes in the time of Ptolemy Lagus, and wrote
“histories of Egypt (among whom was Hecateus), agree with
“ what we have related. Of the first sepulchres (wherein they say
“ the women of Jupiter were buried), that of king Osymandyas was
“ten furlongs in circuit; at the entrance of which they say was
“a portico of various coloured marble, in length two hundred feet,
“and in height five-and-forty cubits: thence going forward, you
“ come into a four-square stone gallery, every square being four
“hundred feet, supported, instead of pillars, with beasts, each of
“one entire stone, sixteen cubits high, carved after the antique
“ manner. The roof was entirely of stone each stone eight cubits
;
“ broad, with an azure sky, bespangled with stars. Passing out of

“this peristylion, you enter into another portico, much like the
“ former, but more curiously carved, and with more variety. At the
“ entrance stand three statues, each of one entire stone, the work-
“ manship of Memnon of Sienitas. One of these, made in a sitting
“posture, is the greatest in all Egypt, the measure of his foot
“ exceeding seven cubits; the one standing on the right, and the
“other on the left, being his daughter and mother. This piece is
“ not only commendable for its greatness, but admirable for its cut
“ and workmanship, and the excellency of the stone. In so great
“ a work there is not to be discerned the least flaw, or any other
“blemish. —
Upon it there is this inscription: ‘I am Osymandyas,
“ king of kings if any would know how great I am, and where
‘
;
“ I lie, let him excel me in any of my works.’
‘
“ There was likewise at this second gate, another statue of his

“mother, by herself, of one stone, twenty cubits in height; upon
“her head were placed three crowns, to denote she was both the
“ daughter, wife, and mother of a king. Near to this portico, they
“ say there was another gallery or piazza, more remarkable than
“the former, in which were various sculptures, representing his
“wars with the Bactrians, who had revolted from him, against
“ whom (it is said) he marched with four hundred thousand foot, and
‘
twenty thousand horse which army he divided into four bodies,
‘
;
“ and appointed his sons generals of the whole.
“In the first wall might be seen the king assaulting a bulwark,
“ environed with the river, and fighting at the liead of his men,
“ each against some that make up against him, assisted by a lion,
“ in a terrible manner which some affirm, is to be taken for a true
;
“ and real lion, which the king bred up tame, which went along
“with him in all his wars, and by his great strength, ever put the
“enemy to flight. Others make this construction of it, that the
“king being a man of extraordinary courage and strength, he was
“ willing to trumpet forth his own praises, setting forth the bravery
“of his own spirit, by the representation of a lion. In the second
“wall were carved the captives dragged after the king, represented
“ without hands, etc. which was to signify that they were of
;
“ effeminate spirits, and had no hands when they came to fight.
“ The third wall represented all sorts of sculptures, and curious
THE COLOSSI AND MAD NAT 1 HABtj. 647
“ images, in which were set forth the king’s sacrificing of oxen, and
‘
his triumphs in that war.
'
“ In the middle of this peristylion, open to the air at the top, was
“ reared an altar of shining marble, of excellent workmanship, and
“ for largeness to be admired. In the last wall were two statues,
“each of one entire stone, seven-and- twenty cubits high near to :
“ which, three passages opened out of the peristylion, into a stately

“ room, supported with pillars like to a theatre for music every ;
“side of the theatre was two hundred feet square. In this, there
“ were many statues of wood, representing the pleaders and
“spectators, looking upon the judges that gave judgment. Of
“these, there were thirty carved upon one of the walls. In the
“ middle sat the chief justice, with the image of truth lying about
“his neck, with his eyes closed, having many books lying before
“ him. This signified that a judge ought not to take any bribes,
“ but ought only to regard the truth and merits of the cause.”
3. The Colossi. —These two interesting statues were set up
in honour of Amenophis III, whom
they represent ; they
stood in front of the pylon of a calcareous stone temple which
was built by this king ; this has now entirely disappeared.
They were hewn out of a hard grit-stone, and the top of each
was about 60 feet above the ground; originally each was
monolithic. The statue on the north is the famous Colossus
of Memnon, from which a sound was said to issue every
morning when the sun rose. The upper part of it was thrown
down by an earthquake, it is said, about 27 b.c. ; the damage
was partially repaired during the reign of Septimius Severus,
who restored the head and shoulders of the figure by adding
to it five layers of stone. When Strabo was at Thebes with
Êlius Gallus he heard “ a noise at the first hour of the day,
“ but whether proceeding from the base or from the colossus,
“ or produced on purpose by some of those standing round the
“ base, I cannot confidently assert.” It is said that after the
colossus was repaired no sound issued from it. Some think
that the noise was caused by the sun’s rays striking upon the
stone, while others believe that a priest hidden in the colossus
produced it by striking a stone. The inscriptions show that
many distinguished Romans visited the “ vocal Memnon ” and
heard the sound ; one Petronianus, of a poetical turn of mind,
stated that it made a sighing sound in complaining to its
mother, the dawn, of the injuries inflicted upon it by Cambyses.
The inscriptions on the back of the colossi give the names of
Amenophis III.
4. Madinat Habfi. —This village lies to the south of
the colossi, and itsfoundation dates from Coptic times. The
early Christians established themselves around the ancient
;
648 THEBES — LEFT BANK.
Egyptian temple there, and, having carefully plastered over

the wall sculptures in one of its chambers, they used it as a
chapel. Round and about this temple many Greek and Coptic
inscriptions have been found, which prove that the Coptic
community here was one of the largest and most important in
Upper Egypt.
The Egyptian name of the site was Aat-tcha-Mutet, which
the Copts turned into Tcheme. The principal buildings at
Madinat Habfi are : —
The Little Temple, the chapels built by
royal personages in the XXVIth dynasty, the “ Pavilion of
Rameses III,” and the Great Temple. The collection of
buildings which forms the Little Temple belongs to various
periods, the oldest dating from the reigns of the early kings
of the XVIIIth dynasty (Thothmes II and III), and the most
recent from the time of the Roman rule over Egypt. The
paved courtyard (a) is the work of the Roman period, and
in it are inscriptions which record the addresses made to
various gods by the Emperor Antoninus. The pylon (c),
which was built by Ptolemy X and Ptolemy XIII, is reached
by crossing a smaller court (b), also of the Roman period ;
the reliefs upon it represent these kings making offerings to
the great gods of Egypt, and below them is the text of a hymn
to the Sun. This pylon leads to the courtyard built by
Nectanebus II (d), and to the pylon built at the end of it
by royal Ethiopian personages (e). The scenes on the walls
of the court of Nectanebus represent the king slaughtering
prisoners, processions of the personifications of nomes, the
king making offerings, etc. The pylon was built by Shabaka,
and additions were made by Tirhakah, Nectanebus II, and
Ptolemy X. Beyond this pylon is another courtyard, of
uncertain date, containing 16 pillars, eight on each side (f).
The oldest part of the building is the XVIIIth dynasty
temple (g), which consists of a shrine chamber (h), open at
each end, and surrounded by an open gallery, and a group
of six small chambers beyond (i). The royal name most
frequently found on the temple is that of Rameses III, who
added several reliefs, in which he is represented making
offerings to the gods. In the open gallery are the names
of Thothmes III, Heru-em-heb, Seti I, and Ptolemy IX
on one of the pillars is a text showing that Thothmes III
dedicated the temple to Menthu, the lord of Thebes. Repairs
were carried out on some of the pillars in this gallery by
Queen Amenartas and Achoris. On the walls of the shrine
)
TEMPLES AT MAdInAT HAbO. 649
Plan of the Temples and other Buildings at Madlnat Habu. (After Lepsius.
chamber Thothmes III and Ptolemy Physkon are depicted

making offerings to the gods of Thebes, and the inscriptions
show that the chamber was rebuilt by the latter king. In one
1
The Little Temple of Thothmes II at Madinat Habu.
of the chambers beyond is an unfinished, red granite shrine

in which the boat or emblem of the god Amen-Ra was kept.
The Little Temple was, like all other temples, enclosed within
1
TEMPLES, ETC., AT MADfNAT HABU. 65
a wall of unbaked but its extent and position were

bricks,
modified periods to suit the arrangements made by
at different
the various kings who restored old buildings or added new
ones to the site.
To the left of the Little Temple and the Pavilion of
Rameses III lie the Temple of Queen Amenartas, the
daughter of Kashta, and three small chapels dedicated by
Shep-en-ap, daughter of Piankhi, Meht-en-usekht, wife of
Psammetichus I, and Nit-aqert (Nitocris), daughter of
Psammetichus I. The scenes on the walls of the chapels
are of the same class as those on the Temple of Amenartas,
and, though interesting, are of no great importance.
The Pavilion of Rameses III is a most interesting and
instructive building, for it represents an attempt to reproduce
in Egypt a small fort or strong city of the class with which
the Egyptians must have become familiar in their campaigns
against the Kheta and other allied peoples in Northern Syria.
It seems to have been designed to take the place of a pylon,
and to have been intended to add to the dignity and grandeur
of the Great Temple of Rameses III, which lay beyond it
It was approached through an opening in the eastern side
of the great unbaked mud brick wall, some 30 feet high and
30 feet thick, with which this king surrounded the temple
buildings at Madinat Habh. In front of the building was
a stone crenelated wall, nearly 1 o feet thick and 1 1 feet high,
with a doorway nearly 5 feet wide, and in each side of this
was a small room which served as a guard chamber. On the
outside of these chambers are scenes representing Rameses III
and Rameses IV making offerings to the gods. The pavilion
consists of two large rectangular towers, about 26 feet wide,
and, when complete, their height must have been about 72 feet;
the distance between them is about 22 feet 6 inches. The
walls behind them open out and form a small court, but they
soon contract, and, becoming still narrower, at length the
two wings of the building unite ; in the portion where they
unite is a door, above which are two windows. On each side
of the stone walls which remain were a number of chambers
built of brick, and it appears that these filled the whole of the
thickness of the great mud brick wall which enclosed all the
temple buildings. The wall of the front of the pavilion slopes
backwards, and its lower part rests upon a low foundation
wall which slopes rapidly. On the south tower are reliefs
representing Rameses III clubbing his enemies in the presence
of Harmachis, who hands him a sword. The peoples depicted

here are the Ethiopians and the tribes that lived in the deserts
to the west of the Nile ; and those on the north tower are the
Kheta, the Ameru, the Tchakari, the Shardana of the sea, the
Shakalasha, the Tursha of the sea, and the Pulasta, i.e ., the
sea-coast dwellers of Phoenicia and the neighbouring coasts
and islands. (?) The scenes on the towers represent the king
bringing his prisoners before Amen-Ra, and the texts give
the words spoken by the god and the king and the chiefs of
the vanquished peoples. In the widest part of the space
between the towers are scenes depicting Rameses III making
offerings to the gods Anhur-Shu, Tefnut, Temu, Iusaaset,
Ptah, Sekhet, Thoth, etc. On the walls further in the king is
being led to Amen by Menthu and Temu, and he receives
a crown from Amen, while Thoth inscribes his name upon a
palm-branch for long years of life. The entrance to the
upper rooms was by a staircase in the south tower. The
walls of the rooms are decorated with scenes in which
the king is seen surrounded by naked women, who play
tambourines, and bring him fruit and flowers, and play
draughts with him.
The Great Temple of Rameses III is one of the most
interesting of the funerary chapels on the western bank of the
Nile at Thebes, and was built by this king to his own memory;
its length is nearly 500 feet, and its width about 160 feet.
The upper parts of the towers of the first pylon have neither
texts nor sculptures, but the lower parts have both. The reliefs
on both sides of the doorways are substantially the same.
Here we see Rameses III clubbing a number of representatives
of vanquished peoples, and near these are 86 captives with
their names enclosed within ovals upon their bodies. It is
clear from some of the names that the peoples here repre-
sented lived in Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and parts of Africa.
Here also is the god Thoth, who inscribes the king’s name
upon the leaves of a tree, probably a kind of acacia, for
which the neighbourhood was in ancient days famous ; and
close by are Amen, Mut, and Khensu, before whom the king
kneels. The text on the north side is a poetical description
of the king’s conquest of the Libyans. To the right of one
of the flag-pole channels, on the south side, is a stele, dated
in the twelfth year of the king, in which his benefactions
to the temples are extolled, and a speech of the god Ptah is
reported.
TEMPLE AT MADiNAT HABU. 653
The door leading

to the First Court
is decorated with re-
liefsn which R ameses
i
III is seen adoring

various gods. The
first court (a), which
measures hi feet by
136 feet, contains two
porticoes that on
:
the right has seven

rectangular pillars, in
the front of each of
which is a statue of
the king, nearly 20
feet high, in the form
of Osiris, and that on
the left has eight
columns. On the back
of the pylon leading
into this courtyard the
defeat of the Libyans
and the triumph of the
Egyptians are de-
picted; in one portion
of the relief on the
right side the hands
of the dead are being
cut off, and the num-
bers of men killed and
mutilated, as well as
lists of the spoil, are
set forth with evident

care. The accom-
panying text of course
describes the battle,
and the great valour
of Rameses III. The
seven rectangular pil-
lars of the north por-
tico are ornamented
with battle scenes and
representations of the
The Temple of Rameses III at Madlnat Habu.
654 THEBES —LEFT BANK.
king making offerings to the gods, etc. ; in the statues the king
has all the attributes of Osiris, and by the side of the legs are
small statues of the sons and daughters of Rameses III. The
eight columns with cup-shaped capitals of the south portico
have each a double relief representing the king slaying prisoners
in the presence of Amen-Ra or Menthu. On the north side
of the face of the second pylon is a long inscription recording
the triumph of the king over some tribes of Western Asia,
and on the south side are a representation of Rameses III,
reviewing his army, and battle scenes, etc. The Second
Court (b) is about the same size as the first, and on each of
the four sides is a portico ;
on the north and south sides the
roof is supported by five columns with lotus capitals, and on
the east and west sides by eight rectangular pillars, each of
which had a statue of the king as Osiris in front of it. The
walls on the south = east side are decorated with reliefs of
battle scenes, among them being : —
The Theban triad giving
the king victory over the invaders of Egypt ; defeat of northern
tribes by the Egyptians ; counting the hands (3,000 !) cut off
from dead enemies ; Rameses leading three rows of captives ;
and captives being offered to Amen the accompanying text

;
celebrates the king’s victories. On the north = east side are

representations of religious processions at the festival of Seker,
the festival of Amen, and the festival of Menu ; these reliefs
are of great interest. This courtyard was turned into a church
by the Copts, who removed the middle column of the northern
portico, and built an altar against the wall behind it. On the
west wall are figures of a number of the king’s sons. Passing
into the Hall of Columns (c), it is seen that this part of the
temple is not as well preserved as the First and Second Courts,
for of the 24 columns which supported the roof only the bases
remain. This damage is said to have been wrought by the
earthquake of 27 b.c., and the portions of the overthrown
columns were probably used by the Copts and Arabs to make
stones for corn mills. This hall measures about 87 feet by
62 feet. On the walls are reliefs in which the king is seen
making offerings of various kinds to the gods of Thebes. On the
south side are five small chambers wherein the treasures of the
temple were kept. After the Hall of Columns come two small
chambers, each with eight columns; the first, the reliefs of
which are destroyed, measures about 56 feet by 27 feet. On
each side are a number of small chambers, the walls of which
are decorated with mythological, astronomical, and other
e
TEMPLE OF DER AL-BAHARi 655
scenes, and some were clearly set apart for the service of special
gods; in most of them are sculptured figures of the king
adoring the gods. The spaces left hollow by the foundation
walls, commonly called crypts, were often used as tombs. On
the outside of the temple walls are series of reliefs which refer
to — (1) Calendar of Festivals ( South Wall) ; (2) Wars against
the people of the Sudan, etc. ( West Wall) ; and (3) Wars
against the Libyans and peoples of Asia Minor ( North Wall
and part of West Wall). For a full account of the temple,
see M. Daressy’s excellent Notice Explicative des Ruines de
Medinet Habou, Cairo, 1897.
5. The Temple of Queen Hatshepset at Der al«
Bahari* was built in terraces on a wide open space, bounded
at its further end by the semicircular wall of cliffs which divides
this space from the valley of the Tombs of the Kings ; it is
approached from the plain on the western side of the river
through a narrow gorge, the sides of which are honey-combed
with tombs. It was called by the Great Queen “ Tcheser
Tcheseru,” “Holy of Holies.” At the

end of the eighteenth century (1798) MM. Jollois and Devilliers
visited it, and made a plan of the ruins then visible ; they
declared that the approach from the plain was by an avenue
of sphinxes, and that the avenue was about 42 feet wide and
437 yards long, omitting to count a break of 34 yards ;
but
they, apparently, did not know the building, which they
imperfectly described, by the name it now bears, “ Der
al-Bahari,” i. , the Northern Monastery.
. In 1827 Wilkinson
made excavations on the site, and Lepsius seems to have done
the same, but no serious clearance of the ruins was begun
until Mariette began to work at them in 1838, in which year
he uncovered the bas-reliefs which depict the Expedition to
Punt. At an early stage in his labours he recognized that
Hatshepset’s Temple was, like many another temple on the
western bank of the Nile at Thebes, a funerary temple, and
that it must be classed with buildings like the Ramesseum
and the great temple at Madinat Habft. In other words, the
temple of Der al-Bahari was a huge private chapel which was
* Thecorrect transcription is, of course, “ Bahri,” but many natives
insert thesound of a short a after the h in this word, and few Europeans
can pronounce the word at all correctly. The Arabic form of the word is
> C y G >
fem. and it means “northern.”
built by the great
queen for the ex-
press purpose that
offerings might be
made to her ka or ,
“double/' on the
appointed days of
festival, and to that
of her father, Thoth-
mes I. The site
which she chose for
the temple was holy
ground, for ruins of
a building, which
was probably a
funerary temple of
Menthu = hetep
Neb = hept = Ra, a
king of the Xlth
dynasty, were found
to the south-west of
the open space on
which the queen
built her temple.
The whole temple
was surrounded by
an enclosing wall,
most of which has
disappeared, and
was approached by
means of an avenue
of sphinxes. It was
entered through a
pylon, in frbnt of
which stood two
obelisks. Passing
through this pylon
the visitor, following
the pathway, arrived
at an incline which
led to the raised
colonnade of the
Eastern Terrace (a).
TEMPLE OF DER AL-BAHARI. 657
The bas-reliefs on its wall were

protected by a roof (b),
supported by one row of
rectangular pillars, and by
one row of polygonal pillars. From the centre of the
platform (c) an inclined plane or flight of steps led to the
Western Terrace (d), and the face of the supporting wall was
protected by a portico (e), formed by two rows of square
pillars. At each end of the portico are rock-cut shrines, which
are approached through a 12-columned portico, the roof of
which is in perfect preservation. The Northern Shrine is
decorated with religious scenes, and the Southern or Hathor
Shrine, which is entered through a covered vestibule having
pillars with Hathor-headed capitals, contains scenes relating to
the rejoicings which took place at Thebes on the return of
the queen’s successful expedition to Punt. Everywhere will
be seen the marks of the erasure of the queen’s name which
was carried out by Thothmes III, her ward, who hated
Hatshepset with a deadly hatred; in many places will be
found marks of the vandalism of Amenophis IV, who erased
the name and figure of the god Amen from the walls, because
he hated this god and preferred to worship Aten ; and every-
where will be seen the cartouche of Rameses II, who, because
in places he tried to repair the mischief done by Amenophis IV,
added his own name wherever possible. At the end of the
building is a small rectangular court, which is entered through
a granite gateway, and directly opposite it is a rock-hewn shrine
with a vaulted roof. The plan of the temple given on p. 656 is
from Mariette’s work,* and will be found useful ; from it, how-
ever, the reader would think that the northern part of the
buildings on the Western Terrace was similar to that on the
south, but this is not so. The total length of the whole build-
ing, not including the Avenue of Sphinxes, was about 800 feet.
Hatshepset, the builder of the temple, was the daughter of
Thothmes I and of his half-sister Aahmes, and the grand-
daughter of Amenophis I and one of his wives ; her father,
however, had another wife, Mut-nefert, called Senseneb, who
bore him a son, Thothmes II, who married Aset, or Isis, a
woman of low rank, who bore him a son, Thothmes III,
Hatshepset was half-sister to Thothmes II and aunt to Thothmes
III. and she became the wife of the former and the guardian of
the latter, her step-son. The inscriptions on her temple record
that she was associated with her father, Thothmes I, in the rule
* Deir-el-Bahari Leipzig, 1877.

,
of the kingdom, and

that she herself was enthroned at a very
early age. Fromher childhood she is always represented in
male attire, and in the inscriptions masculine pronouns and
verbal forms are used in speaking of her, and masculine
attributes, including a beard, are ascribed to her ; only when
considered as a goddess is she represented in female form.
She reigned for about 16 years, and the chief event of her
reign, omitting the building of the temple, was the famous
expedition to Punt, a general name of the land on both
sides of the Red Sea as far south as, and including, Somaliland.
The queen sent five ships to the coast of Africa, and M. Maspero
Queen Hatshepset.
believes that they were sailed by their crews up the Elephant
River, near Cape Guardafui, and made near one of the
fast
native villages inland. .Then followed the exchange of objects
brought from Egypt for native produce, and the natives appear
to have given large quantities of gold in return for almost
valueless articles. The bas-reliefs which illustrate these scenes
are found on the southern half of the wall which supports the
Western Terrace, and it is easy to see that what the natives
are giving to the Egyptians is both valuable and bulky. The
chief of Punt, called Pa-rehu, with raised hands, wears a
dagger in his belt ;
he is followed by his wife, a lady with
;:
TEMPLE OF DER AL-BAHARI. 659
a remarkable figure, who wears a single yellow garment and a

necklace, and by his two sons and a daughter. The drawing
below illustrates this scene. The native products given by
the Prince of Punt to the Egyptians consisted of aromatic
woods, spices, incense, anti rare trees and plants, which were
,
afterwards planted in the gardens of Amen at Thebes, gold, etc.

these things were given to the Egyptians in such large quantities
that their boats were filled with them, and they formed a very
substantial offering to the god Amen. Among the gifts of the
Prince of Punt were leopards, panthers, and other wild animals.
Hatshepset seems to have been a capable ruler and adminis-
trator, but the conquests of foreign lands during her reign were
few. Her husband, Thothmes II, waged war against the
nomad, raiding tribes of the Eastern Desert, and he conducted
a campaign of considerable importance in Nubia ; he seems to
Pa-rehu, the Prince of Punt, his wife and his two sons, and a daughter.
(This portion of the relief was stolen from the temple, and has not been recovered.)
have died while he was comparatively young. After his death,

Hatshepset associated Thothmes III with her in the rule of the
kingdom, but, as after her death he always obliterated her
name from her temple, it seems that the relations between
the rulers were not always happy. M. Naville thinks that
Thothmes III hated Hatshepset because her husband,
Thothmes II, had not raised his (Thothmes Ill’s) mother Aset
to royal rank, and that he was jealous of his mother’s honour
Hatshepset had no son, and she seems to have been obliged
to associate Aset’s son with her in the rule of the kingdom.
Thothmes III seems to have married first Neferu-Ra, a daughter
of Hatshepset, and secondly another daughter of the great queen
called Hatshepset-meri-Ra. It would be unjust to the memory
of a great man and a loyal servant of Hatshepset if we omitted
to mention the name of Senmut, the architect and overseer of
works of Der al-Bahari. The tomb of this distinguished man
2 t 2
66o THEBES —LEFT BANK.
is still to be seen. hill about a mile from the

It is cut in a
temple, of which commands
a good view.
it There is little
doubt now that he was influenced in the plan which he
made by that of the temple of Menthu-hetep, but it says
much for the good sense of the ablest woman who ever
sat on the throne of Egypt, that she gave this distinguished
architect the opportunity of building the unique and beautiful
temple which has shed glory on the name both of the subject
and of his great sovereign. The visitor to the temple
of Der al-Bahari owes the ease with which he is able to
visit every part of it to the labours of M. Naville, assisted by
Mr. Hogarth, who spent three winters in clearing it at the
expense of the Egypt Exploration Fund. An idea of the
vastness of the work may be gleaned from the fact that in two
winters the enormous amount of 60,000 cubic metres of rubbish
and stones was removed from the site and carried away to
a distance of 200 yards. This temple now presents a striking
appearance, whether seen from the Luxor or Kfirnah side, and
every visitor will much appreciate the excellent results which
have attended the completion of the undertaking.* Archaeologists
will be interested to know that the newly-found fragments of
the wall upon which the expedition to Punt is depicted all
agree in pointing to the eastern side of Africa as the country
which the Egyptians called Punt ; some of the animals in the
reliefs are identical with those found to this day on the
Abyssinian coast, and the general products of the two countries
are the same. Punt was famous for its ebony, and all tradition
agrees in making Abyssinia, and the countries south and east
of it, the home of the ebony tree. The tombs at Der al-Bahari
were opened many, many years ago, and a very large number
of the coffins with which Mariette furnished the first Egyptian
Museum at Bulak came from them ; since that time the whole
site has been carefully searched by diggers for antiquities,
hence comparatively few antiquities have been unearthed by
M. Naville. In the course of the work he discovered an
interesting mummy pit, and in a small chamber hewn in the
solid rock,about 12 feet below the pavement, he found three
wooden rectangular coffins (each containing two inner coffins),
with arched lids, wooden hawks and jackals, wreaths of flowers,
and a box containing a large number of ushabtiu figures. These
* M. . Naville ’s description of the temple has been published under the
title,The Temple of Deir el-Bahari 5 parts, with a quarto volume,
,
London, 1894-1908.
TOMB OF HATSHEPSET. 66i
coffins contained the mummies of. a priest called Menthu-

Tehuti-auf-ankh, and of his mother, and of his aunt ; they belong
to the period of the XXVIth dynasty, or perhaps a little earlier.
During the last days of the excavations at Der al-Bahari
M. Naville’s workmen came upon a very interesting “ founda-
tion deposit,” which they discovered in a small rock-hewn pit.
It consisted of fifty wooden hoes, four bronze slabs, a hatchet,
1
a knife, eight wooden models of adzes, eight wooden adzes

with bronze blades, fifty wooden models of an implement of
unknown use, ten pots of alabaster, and ten baskets ; above
these were a few common earthenware pots, and over all were
some mats. All the objects bear the same inscription, i.e., the
prenomen and titles of queen Hatshepset.
6. The Tomb of Hatshepset. — The great interest which
attaches to the name of this queen, and the romantic circum-
stances under which she lived and reigned, have induced many
to endeavour to discover her mummy and her tomb, and during
his excavations M. Naville kept this object steadily before him.
Good fortune, tenacity of purpose, and a lavish but enlightened
The Tomb of Hatshepset.
expenditure of money, gave the clue to the well-known American

archaeologist, Mr. Theodore M. Davis, and this gentleman,
having overcome difficulties of a more than ordinary character,
early in 1904 declared that he had found the tomb of the
Great Queen. He was assisted in his work by Mr. Howard
Carter, one of the two English Inspectors of Egyptian Anti-
quities} who superintended the excavation operations. An
account of the works and the discovery of the tomb appeared

in the Times of March 14th, 1904. The account of the
excavation and clearing of the tomb are best given from
Mr. Davis’s Introduction to his publication on the tomb. The
tomb was probably opened by the priests about 900 b.c., and
the contents taken out and concealed in the tomb generally
known as the “ cachette ” near Hatshepset’s temple at Der
al-Bahart. The entrance door of the tomb was open in the
time of Strabo, and Napoleon’s Expedition cleared out about
80 feet of the corridor in 1799. In 1844 Lepsius cleared the
corridor for about 140 feet, and then abandoned it. In March,
The Tomb of Hatshepset.
1903, Mr. Davis caused all the ground near the tomb to be
cleared, and shortly after this work was started his men came
upon a spot directly before the door of the tomb which yielded
a hollow sound, and which, upon excavation, proved to be a
small pit cut in the solid rock, which contained models of
objects used in making the tomb, such as bronze tools,
alabaster vases, reed mats, magic symbols, bread, fringed
mummy cloth, napkins, etc., many of them bearing the
cartouche of Hatshepset. Shortly afterwards he undertook the
exploration of this corridor for the benefit of the Cairo
Museum, under the direction of Mr. Howard Carter. The
corridor proved to be 692 feet long, and 320 feet vertically
deep, and the entire length was filled to the roof with small
TOMB OF HATSHEPSET. 663
stones. In places these stones had become cemented together,

and the pickaxe had to be used in making a passage. In
places the ceilings of the corridors and chambers, which
measured 26 feet by 23 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, had fallen in.
Having tunnelled through a chamber full of blocks and small
stones Mr. Davis found the mouth of a descending corridor.
Long before this was reached, however, the air was so bad and
hot that the candles melted and the men could not see to work.
Electric lamps were then installed, but as soon as a depth of about
165 feet was reached, the air became so foul that the men could
not work. In addition to this, the bats of centuries had built
innumerable nests on the ceilings of the corridors and chambers,
and their droppings had become so dry that the least stir of
the air filled the cor-
ridors with a fluffy
black stuff, which
choked the noses and
mouths of the men,
rendering it most
difficult for them to
breathe. An air suc-
tion pump was then
installed, with a zinc
pipe, which, before the
burial chamber was
reached, extended
about 692 feet. When
the burial chamber
was reached, it was
found to be filled with
small stones and the debris of the ceilings, and it took a month
to clear it out. To appreciate the difficulties of the work, it
must be remembered that all the debris found in the tomb
was carried on the heads of men and boys from the lowest
chamber to the mouth of the tomb, a distance of 33 feet to
692 feet, including an ascent of 3 feet to 320 feet. Polished
limestone blocks inscribed with extracts from the Book “ Am
Tuat” were found in the burial chamber, and these, it seems,
were intended to line the walls. In the burial chamber two
sarcophagi were found ; one for Hatshepset, and one for her
father Thothmes I. Doubtless she had his body transferred
from his tomb, where a sarcophagus of his already was, to
hers, and placed in the new sarcophagus, where it probably
—
664 THEBES — LEFT BANK,
remained about 900 b.c., when, during some great crisis

until
in the affairs ofThebes, the priests, thinking it wise to remove
the bodies of many of the kings from their tombs in the
valley, and to hide them in a safer repository, moved the con-
tents of Hatshepset’s tomb to the tomb where the great
“find” of royal mummies was made in 1881 near the
queen’s temple at Der al-Bahari. The “ find ” included the
body of Thothmes I, an ornamental box bearing the names
and titles of Hatshepset, and containing a mummified liver,
and also two female bodies stripped of all covering and with-
out coffins or inscriptions. Mr. Davis records his conviction
that the body of Hatshepset was moved with that of
Thothmes I from her tomb to the “ cachette,” and thinks
that the logic of the situation justifies the conclusion that one
of the two unidentified female bodies is that of the great
Queen Hatshepset.
7. The Temple of Menthu = Hetep Neb = hept = Ra.
The ruins of this temple lie to the south of Hatshepset’s temple
of Der al-Bahari, and are of special interest they were excavated
;
by Professor E. Naville, on behalf of the Egypt Explora=

tion Fund, in the years 1903 to 1906 his chief assistant
;
was Mr. H. R. Hall. Other assistants were Mr. E. R. Ayrton,

Mr. H. Garnett-Orme, Mr. C. T. Currelly, Mr. M. D. Dalison,
and Mr. Dennis. The temple of Neb-hep-Ra [

O
is the most ancient shrine yet discovered at Thebes, and it was
built about 2500 b.c. It had been known for several years
that a temple of the Xlth dynasty existed at Der al-Bahari, for
Messrs. Mariette, Maspero, and Brugsch Pasha had found
objects there inscribed with the king’s prenomen, but none of
these investigators either knew where it was exactly, or made
any excavations with the view of discovering it. The precise
site, size, and nature of the temple were not known until 1903,
and as no objects have been found there of a period later than

the time of the kings Rameses, it is safe to assert that the site
had not been disturbed since about 1200 b.c. The general
plan of the building of Menthu-hetep may be thus described.
A platform was cut out of the living rock to the south of the
temple built by Hatshepset, and on this was built the royal
pyramid. A colonnade and wall ran round all four sides of it.
Outside the wall was a second colonnade, portions of which
have now disappeared. A flight of steps, or ramp, with a small
colonnade, formed the approach to the platform on the east
TEMPLE OF MENTHU-HETEP III, 665
side. To the north and south were courts, and at the western
end “the platform was narrowed into a colonnaded court
beneath the cliffs.” In it is the dromos to the royal sanctuary
of the king’s Ka, or “ double.” Immediately under the cliffs
SOUTH EAST COURT NORTH EAST COURT
Scale of Feet
0 20 40 60
Plan of the Temple of Menthu-hetep at Der al-Bahari.

(After the plan by C. R. Peers.)
is a transverse hypostyle hall, with a small sanctuary. The

whole building was surrounded by a temenos boundary, and a
high wall of limestone flanked it for some distance on the north
and south sides. The great forecourt containing the ramp was
TEMPLE OF MENTHU-HETEP. 667
provided with a low brick wall. The pyramid was called
Khu-asut To the west of the pyramid was a
row of six chapels, which were used in connection with the tombs
of certain royal wives who were buried in rock-hewn shafts on the
platform to the west and north of the walls and the chapels.*
—
The Cow of Hathor. In February, 1906, Professor Naville
discovered a small chapel, about 10 feet long and 5 feet wide,
which was wholly covered with painted sculptures. The roof is
The temples of Menthu-hetep (A) and Hatshepset (B) at Der al-Bahari.

(From a photograph by H. R. Hall, Esq.)
vaulted,and is painted blue, and strewn with stars in yellow. In

thischapel stood a beautifully formed cow, in limestone, painted
reddish brown with black spots. The head, horns, and flanks
bore traces of having been overlaid with gold. The cow is
supposed to be standing among reeds, grass, and flowers, and
these reach up to her neck ; she is in the attitude with which
* For full information about the temple of Menthu-hetep, and descrip-

tions of the objects found in the course of its excavation, see Naville-Hall-
Ayrton, The Xlth dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari) Vo.n I, London, 1907.
668 THEBES— LEFT BANK. -
allare familiar from the vignette in the last section of the Ani
Papyrus. On her head she wears the head-dress of Hathor, i.e.,
the lunar disk and two feathers. No cow of such beautiful
workmanship and such size has hitherto been discovered, and it
is probably the first time that a goddess has been found undis-
turbed in her sanctuary. Beneath her is a kneeling figure ot
the king as a boy, whom she is suckling, and standing under
her head we see the king as a grown -up man. Behind the head
(Cow of Hathor. (From a photograph by E. Brugsch Pasha.)] 7
of thecow is the cartouche of Amen-hetep II, the son o 1

Thothmes III, whose sculptures cover the walls. The authori-
ties inCairo were at once informed of this important discovery,
and soldiers arrived thesame night to guard the “ find.” As
soon as possible both the cow, symbol of Hathor, and her shrine
were removed to Cairo, and the monument has been established
in a suitable place in the Museum.
The Subterranean Sanctuary at Der aUBahari.-—
The account of the clearing out of this Sanctuary and the
—
SANCTUARY AT DER AL-BAHARf. 6f 9
corridor which leads to it is best given in the words of Prof.

Naville the discoverer :
“In the open court of the temple of Menthu-hetep which

“ we reached in 1906 we stopped at the entrance of a sloping
“ passage extending down below the pavement, and the door of
“which was obstructed by heaps of enormous stones and
“ rubbish. We left the clearing of it for 1907, and we entered it
“at the end of March. It is a well-cut rock tunnel, which goes
“down quite straight for about 500 feet. On more than half of
“its length it is vaulted two sandstone blocks leaning against
:
“ each other at the top, and cut in the form of an arch, rest on
“the rock and on walls of dry stones erected on both sides.
“ Except at the entrance, where there was a pile of stones, the
“ passage was free. Between the two walls there was a path
“ sufficiently wide for a man to go down. At the end of the
“ tunnel there is a room of granite made of big blocks extremely
“ well joined, like the chambers in the pyramids. The door
“ was blocked by a stone. One might have expected that this
“chamber was a tomb, but it seems clear that it had a different
“ purpose. The greatest part of it is occupied by a great
“alabaster shrine, made of large blocks of that beautiful stone.
“ Except a cornice and a moulding, it has no sculpture or
“ornamept of any kind. The ceiling is made of an enormous
“monolithic red granite slab, over which comes again alabaster.
“This shrine was empty except for a few well-cut black granite
“ stones, which were part of a casing inserted between the
“ shrine and the walls of the chamber. In my opinion this
“shrine was a sanctuary ; it was the abode of the ka> as the
“ Egyptians called the double or the image of the King, which
“was represented by a statue now destroyed. In front of the
“ shrine there was a heap of broken wooden figures, fragments
“of furniture, and a quantity of cloth in which must have been
“ wrapped offerings, or perhaps mummified animals, also a few
“small pieces- of bones said to be human. But there was no
“ trace of a wooden or stone coffin, no definite evidence of a
“burial. That is the reason why I consider this shrine as a
“ sanctuary. This agrees with a decree found on a large stele
“at the entrance of the passage, in which a successor of
“ Mentuhetep, of the following dynasty, orders that for what he
“calls ‘the cave of Mentuhetep’ should be provided every day
“food and drink, and whenever a bull should be slaughtered
“in the great temple of Amon, roast meat should be brought
“to -that cave. These offerings are those of a god or of the
6jo THEBES —“LEFT BANK.
“King adored as such *

they are not funerary. It must have
“been a place where priests had frequently to descend, since
“ an arch was made over the passage evidently after the
“ chamber and shrine had been finished. There would have
“ been no reason for arching a passage leading to a closed
funereal chamber. The shrine, which is n feet long, 7 feet
“wide* and 8 feet high, is striking by its fine architecture, and
“the beautiful material out of which it is made. It would
“be extremely difficult to remove it to a museum. It would be
“an expensive work, also somewhat dangerous. Besides, in
“a large hall it would by no means produce the same effect as
“ it does in its subterranean granite chamber. It will remain
“for the present in its deep hiding-place. The passage will
“ be closed by a door, so that people specially interested in
“ Egyptian architecture may reach it for it is not advisable for
;
“tourists to go in, nor would they much enjoy it. As it is, it

“ has added a new feature to the temple of the Xlth Dynasty,
“which has been so rich in unexpected architectural dis-

coveries. The platform, the pyramid issuing out of a colon-
“ nade, the hypostyle hall, the subterranean sanctuary, form a
“whole of a nature quite unique among Egyptian temples.”
(Times, April 9th, 1907.)
8. Der al = Madinat. The temple built in this place
owes its name to the Coptic Der, or Monastery, which stood
near here when Thebes was the home of a flourishing Coptic
community, and was dedicated to Saint Paul of Pikolol, of
whom, however, nothing is known. The monastery must have
contained a society of considerable size, for it is said to have
possessed two stewards. The small Egyptian temple which
stands between the Colossi and Madinat Habit, was begun by
Ptolemy IV, Philopator, and continued by Ptolemy VII,
Philometor, and finished by Ptolemy IX, Euergetqs II. It is
built of the ordinary sandstone of the district, and though in
many respects it resembles most of the funeral temples built by
the Ptolemies, it is a beautiful little example of its class. It
appears to have been dedicated to more than one of the
goddesses of the underworld, but Hathor was regarded as its
tutelary deity. The capitals of some of the columns are
Hathor-headed, and over the doorway of the large chamber
are the heads of the Seven Hathors, who, in their forms of
cows, supplied the deceased with food in the underworld. In
one of the chambers is a relief representing the Judgment
Scene, which forms the Vignette of the CXXVth Chapter of
— —
DRAH ABU’L-NEKKAH. 671
the Book of the Dead The chief interest of the scene here is
.
that proclaims the nature of the building, and proves how

it
anxious the Ptolemies were officially to adopt and to maintain

the principal religious views of the Egyptians. The temple
was much visited by travellers in ancient times, as the number
of names written on the walls testify, and by both Greeks and
Copts was regarded as very holy.
it
9 The principal cemeteries at Thebes are:

. —
(1) Drah
Abu’l = Nekkah, which lies between the Temple of Seti 1 and
the Temple of Der al-Bahari graves were made here at the
;
time when the princes of Thebes began to acquire power,

i.e., so far back as the Xlth dynasty, and many officials under
the XVIIIth dynasty were buried here. The coffins of the

Antef kings (Xlth dynasty), now in the Louvre and British
Museum, were discovered here, and here was made the mar-
vellous “ find ” of the jewellery of Aah-hetep, wife of Karnes,
a king of the XVIIth dynasty, about 1650 b.c. A
little more
to the south is the necropolis of Asasif, where during the

XIXth, XXIInd, and XXVIth dynasties many beautiful tombs
were constructed. Most of the tombs are in a ruined state
and do not repay a visit. (2) Shekh ‘Abd al = Kurnah,
which contains a large number of important tombs, chiefly
of the XVIIIth dynasty. (3) Kurnat Murrai, which con-
tains the tombs of the queens, and the tombs of many of
the officials of the XIXth and XXth dynasties. The tombs
of Shekh ‘Abd aUKurnah are extremely interesting, for
in many of them are depicted events which took place under
the rule of the greatest of the kings of the XVIIIth dynasty,
and they illustrate scenes in the public and private life of
some of the officials who played a prominent part in the
development of Theban conquest and civilization. The tombs
in their leading features resemble each other, and there is at
times a sameness in the subjects represented, and even in the
treatment of them. The scenes depicted comprise representa-
tions of agricultural operations, of the amusements of the
deceased, of festivals and banquets, of official functions in
which the deceased played a prominent part eg., in the receipt
of tribute from vassal nations, and of funeral rites and
ceremonies. The scenes are usually painted in tempera upon
a thin layer of white plaster laid upon the bedding of mud, or
perhaps very poor dark-coloured mortar, with which the lime-
stone slabs that formed the walls were covered. Among such
tombs may be specially mentioned :
(1) The Tomb of Rekhmara (No. 35 according to Wilkin-

son, and No. 15 according to Champollion), which is situated
in the hill behind the Ramesseum called Shekh ‘Abd al-Kurnah ;
it is one of the most interesting of all the private tombs found
at Thebes.The scenes on the walls represent a procession of

tributebearers from Punt carrying apes, ivory, etc., and of
people from parts of Syria and the shores of the Mediter-
TOMBS AT KtjRNAH AND DRAH ABU’l- NEKKAH. 673
2 U
ranean bringing gifts consisting of the choicest products of

their lands, which Rekhmara receives for Thothmes III. The
countries can in many cases be identified by means of the
articles depicted. The scenes in the inner chamber represent
7
brick-making, rope-making, smiths and masons’ work, etc.,
superintended by Rekhmara, prefect of Thebes elsewhere are ;
domestic scenes and a representation of Rekhmara sailing in a

boat, lists of offerings, etc.
(2) Tomb of Nekht. —
This beautiful little tomb was opened
out in the year 1889, but there is little doubt that it was known
to the inhabitants of Kfirnah some time before. Though
small, it is of considerable interest, and the freshness of the
colours in the scenes is unusual ; it is, moreover, a fine
example of the tomb of a Theban gentleman of the Middle
Empire. As the paintings and inscriptions are typical of their
class, they are here described at some length. The tomb of
Nekht consists of two chambers, but the larger one only is
ornamented ; the ceiling is painted with a wave pattern, and
the cornice is formed of the khakeru pattern On

the left end wall a granite stele is painted, with inscriptions
containing prayers for funeral offerings, etc. On the upper part
of the stele the deceased Nekht and his sister and wife Taui,
a lady of the College of Amen, are represented sitting before a
table of offerings ; the inscription reads “ coming forth: A
“ always to the table of the lords of eternity every day, to the
“ ka of the temple servant, Nekht, triumphant, and to his sister,
“ the lady of the house, triumphant ” On the right of the
!
stele are :
—
(i) Kneeling figure of a man offering and the
legend, “ the giving of beer to the scribe Nekht.” (ii) Kneeling
figure of a man offering two vases \j and the legend, “The
“ giving of a vase of wine to Osiris the temple-servant, the
“ scribe Nekht. Thou art pure, Set is pure.”
“
(iii)
The
Kneeling figure of a man offering
giving of linen bandages to Osiris, the scribe Nekht.”

m ,
and the legend,
On the left of the stele are —

(i) Kneeling figure offering
:
U, etc., and the legend, “The giving of holy offerings to the

“ scribe Nekht.” (ii) Kneeling figure of a man offering Y7C7,
and the legend, “ The giving of a vase of water to the double
“ of Osiris, the temple-servant of Amen, the scribe Nekht,
“ triumphant ! Thou art pure, Horus is pure.” (iii) Kneeling
—
TOMB OF NEKHT. 675
figure of a man offering

^ and the legend, “ The giving of
“ fresh unguents and eye-paint to the scribe Nekht, triumphant ” !
Beneath the stele is shown a pile of funereal offerings con-

sisting of fruits and flowers, bread and cakes, ducks, haunches
of beef, etc. ; on each side is a female wearing a sycamore,
the emblem of the goddess Hathor, upon her head, and holding
offerings of fruit, flowers, etc., in her hands, and behind each
is a young man bringing additional offerings. The scene on
the wall at the other end of the chamber was never finished
by the artist. In the upper division are Nekht and his wife
Taui seated, having a table loaded with funereal offerings
before them; a priestly official and the nine smeriu bring
offerings of oil, flowers, etc. In the lower division also are
Nekht and his wife Taui seated, having a table of offerings
before them, and four priestly officials are bringing haunches
of veal or beef to them. On the wall to the left of the door-
way leading into the smaller chamber are painted the following
scenes connected with agriculture 1, An arm of the Nile or
a canal —on one side are two men ploughing with oxen, and
labourers breaking up hard sods with mallets, while a third
scatters the seed ; on the other are seen men digging up the
ground with hoes and the sower sowing seed. At one
end sits the deceased Nekht in, and at the
the $eh hall,,
J^p|>
other is a tree having a water-skin on one of the branches,
from which a man drinks. 2. Men reaping, a woman gleaning,
men tying up sheaves in a sack, women twisting flax. 3. The

measuring of the grain. 4. Winnowing the grain. Above the
head of Nekht, who sits in a seh chamber, is the inscription
“ Sitting in the seh seeth his fields the temple-servant of
“ [Amen, Nekht], triumphant before the great god.”
On the left of the agricultural scenes stands Nekht pouring
out a libation over an altar loaded with all manner of funereal
offerings ;
behind him is his wife Taui holding a menat
emblem of joy and pleasure, in her right hand, and a sistrum

in her left. Beneath the altar two priests are sacrificing
^
a bull. The inscription above the whole scene reads :
“ Offering of things all beautiful, pure, bread, beer, oxen, ducks,

“ heifers, calves, to be made upon the altars of ..... .
— —
6y6 THEBES — LEFT BANK.
44
Harmachis to Osiris, god great, and Hathor, president of the
“ mountain of the dead, to Anubis upon his mountain by the
“ temple-servant Nekht. His sister, his darling, of
“ the seat of his heart, the singing priestess of [Amen, Taui,
44 ”
triumphant !]
On
the wall to the right of the doorway leading into the
smaller chamber are painted the following scenes Upper ;
register ; Nekht in a boat, accompanied by his wife and children,

spearing fish and bringing down birds with the boomerang in
44
a papyrus swamp. Above is the inscription Passeth :
44
through wild-fowl marshes, traverseth wild-fowl marshes with
44
gladness, speareth fish Nekht, triumphant *’ On the bank !
stand two of Nekht’s servants holding sandals, staff, boomerang,

etc., and beneath is another servant carrying to Nekht the birds
which Nekht himself has brought down. The inscriptions above
read
44
(i):
44
—
Rejoiceth, seeth happiness [in] making the chase,
[and] in the work of the goddess Sekhet, the friend of the
44
lady of the chase, the temple-servant, the scribe Nekht,
14 44
triumphant ” (ii)
! His sister, the singing priestess of
14 4
[Amen], the lady of the house, Taui, saith, Rejoice thou in
44
the work of Sekhet, [and] the birds [which] he setteth apart
4
14 4 44
for his selection.’ ” (iii) Rejoiceth, seeth happiness in the
44
produce of the fields of the land of the north, the temple-
44 ”
servant the scribe Nekht, triumphant !
Lower register: Nekht and his wife sitting in a summer-

house 44 to make himself glad and to experience the happiness
44
of the land of the north ” (t.e., Lower Egypt) ; before them
funereal offerings are heaped up. In the upper division of
this register are seen Nekht’s servants gathering grapes, the
treading of the grapes in the wine-press, the drawing of the
new wine, the jars for holding it, and two servants making
offerings to Nekht of birds, flowers, etc. In the lower division
we see Nekht instructing his servants in the art of snaring birds
in nets, the plucking and cleaning of the birds newly caught,
and two servants offering to Nekht fish, birds, fruit, etc. In
the other scenes we have Nekht, accompanied by his wife
Taui, making an offering of a?ita unguent and incense to the
gods of the tomb, and a representation of his funereal feast.
Other sepulchres worthy of a visit are :
1. The tomb
an overseer of granaries.
of Amsu (or Menu) -nekht,
2. The tomb of Sen-nefer, an official of Amen-hetep

T II,
and an important member of the brotherhood of Amen.

^
TOMBS OF OFFICIALS. 677
Plan of the Tomb of Amsu- Plan of the Tomb of Ra-men-

(or Min) -Nekht. kheper-senb.
3. The tomb Ra = men = kheper-senb,

of
high priest of Amen under Thothmes III.
4. The tomb of Peh = su = kher, —
Plan of the
Tomb of
Mentu-her-
khepesh-f.
Plan of the Tomb of Pelj-su-kher.
K~LLLLi
f i crv*
5. The tomb of Mentu = her = khepesh=f, /WW\A
aaaaaa
'
“ « '
a prince and chancellor.
6. The tomb of Amu-netcheh, ,

a high
official of Thothmes III.
7. The tomb of Mai,
8. The tomb of Nefer = hetep, ,

a divine father
of Amen under Heru-em-freb.

6?8 THEBES LEFT BANK
Plan of the Tomb of Amu-netcheh. Plan of the Tomb of Mai.
9. The tomb of Kha = em = hat, Q ,

an official
of Amen-hetep IV.
Lmjxi
Amen = em = heb, I r
10. The tomb of

I //WSAA ,
one of the generals of Thothmes III.
Plan of the Tomb of Nefer-hetep, Plan of the Tomb of Amen-em-heb.
11. The tomb of Heru=em = heb, w the
chancellor of Thothmes IV. - r

1
12 (No. 45). The tomb of Tehuti = em = heb, „ _ /JL
an inspector of workers in linen ;

it was discovered and cleared
out by Mr, R. Mond f
jj
:
^ . .
TOMBS OF OFFICIALS. 679
(No. The tomb of Rames,

13 46).
O ^^
XVII Ith dynasty.
14 (No. 47). The tomb of Userhat, ~j ^j, a temple

officialin the reign of Amen-hetep III. It originally con-
tained a good portrait of Queen Thi.
u u~LU
r
~
i r-^
15 (No. 49). The tomb of Amen = hetep, [)
(I
1 AA/V
a priest of the tomb of King Amen-hetep I.
16 (No. 51).
XIXth dynasty.
The tomb of Userhat,
^ jl
i
f\ n 1 1 J
1^
17 (No. 53). The tomb of Amenemhat, (I

I AAAAAA
T.
XVI I Ith dynasty.

I
18 (No. 54). The tomb of Hui, XIXth

dynasty.
19 (No. 55)- The tomb of Rames, ^fj commonly

^ |||
|1 ,
known as Stuart’s Tomb. The reliefs in this tomb are of

considerable interest. Late XVI I Ith dynasty.
20 (No. 56). The tomb of Userhat, 1 A A few

I
fine paintings.
21 (No. 60).
XVIIth dynasty.
The tomb of Antef=aqer, ft
^ l|
22 (No. 69). The tomb of Menna, /vww 0 ^ contains

AAAAAA 1 C.
some remarkably fine paintings, XVIIIth dynasty.

23 (No. 71). The tomb of Senmut, j. a high
official of Queen Hatshepset.
24. The Gold Tomb. This tomb, so called because of
the “ find ” of jewellery made in it by Mr. Theodore M. Davis,
is at the north side of the mound of rock which contains the
tomb of Rameses VI. At a depth of 33 feet from the surface

a doorway opens into a large room 25 feet long, which con-
tained, when first found, a layer of mud
3 feet 6 inches in depth ;
when this was removed layer by layer a quantity of valuable
jewellery was found near the west wall. Among these may
68o THEBES— LEFT BANK.
be mentioned: i. Gold crown with ornaments in the form

of flowers, whereon are cut the cartouches of Seti II
and the
V \ i 1 1 AAAAAA <0 A J\ \ I V*7 |
W 1 AAAAAA A
name of Queen Ta = usert in a cartouche
2. Pair of gold ear-pendants on which are cut the cartouches
of Seii II. 3. Parts of a gold necklace, utchats shells, flies,

Cm ,
'
amulets, etc., in gold. 4. Pair of gold bracelets, gold rings,

etc.* Mr. Davis’s discovery shows that Queen Ta-usert married
Sa-Ptah, the successor of Amen-meses, and that on his
first
death she married her husband’s successor, Seti II, and

transferred her rights to her new husband.
During the winters of 1902-1904 Mr. Robert Mond cleared
out and repaired, at his own expense, a number of the tombs
of officials who flourished under the XVIIIth and XIXth
dynasties ; among these may specially be mentioned the
tombs of Qen-Amen, Sen-nefer, Menna, Ra-men-kheper-senb,
Kha-em-hat, Userhat, a priest,. Tehuti-em-heb, a baker, and the
mummy pits of User and Amen-mes. He also began to
excavate some tombs of the Xlth dynasty, which lie between
Der al-Madinah, and Der al-Bahari. His work at Thebes
may be thus summarized. He began to work at the end
of December, 1902, and, first of all, cleared out the tomb
of Ra-men-kheper-senb, wherein he found 185 funeral cones.
Next in order he cleared out and repaired the tombs of
Kha-em-hat and Userhat ; the former was discovered by
Lloyd in 1842. Userhat was a priest of the ka or “ double,” ,
of Thothmes I. Mr. Mond excavated the tomb of Amen-em-

hat, and examined a large brick wall which had formed part of
the court of the tomb of Meri-Ptah, and cleared the mummy
pit of User, a high official. At Kfirnah. he examined two
mummy pits, and the tombs of Api, Amen-em-apt, Uah
|
,
and Amen-mes. At Der al-Bahari, in the “ second
circus/’ he also carried on work, and he discovered a number
of small but interesting objects. Between Kurnah and Der al-
Madinah he found in a pit the coffin ofPuam

^ (j ^ ,
of
* A full description of the jewellery is given by Davis and Maspero in

The Tomb of Siphtah London, 1908. ,
TOMBS OF OFFICIALS. 68l
the XVIIIth dynasty. He cleared out the tomb of Tehuti-em-

heb, which lies near that of Kha-em-hat, and excavated the
Peta-Amen-em-a.pt.
of
Tomb
the
of
Plan
tombs of Qen-Amen and Sen-nefera. The excavations and

restorations which Mr. Mond has carried out are of a most
;
useful character, and he deserves the thanks of all lovers of the

civilization of Egypt for the pains and money which he has
spent on his work.
In the winter of 1907 = 8, Lord Carnarvon, assisted by
Mr, Howard Carter, carried out a series of comprehensive
excavations at Drah abu’l-Nekkah and in the Valley of Der al-
Bahari. In the former place, he found near the mosque the
interesting tomb of Tetaki, which probably belongs to the
transition period between the XVIIth and XVIIIth dynasties
the tablet for offerings from this tomb he presented to the
British Museum. At Der al-Bahari he was fortunate enough to
find two slabs of calcareous limestone which are inscribed with
texts of first-class importance. One text contains some state-
ments about the deeds of King Kames, and throws some light
upon the expulsion of the Hyksos. The other text contains the
opening lines of a version of the Precepts of Ptah = hetep,
which differs materially from the version given by the Prisse
Papyrus, and makes the meaning of many of the aphorisms
understandable. In 1908 = 9 he cleared out the tomb of Tetaki,
and discovered on the south side of the slope near Der al-Bahari
a tomb of the XXVth
dynasty, with the coffins of nine persons
in it. The base
of a wall 7 feet high and 9 feet thick was also
discovered, and a portion of it 150 feet long was cleared. In
1910=11 he discovered an unfinished temple of Hatshepset, a
ruined temple of Rameses IV, a Xllth dynasty cemetery, and
a “ cachette ” of intermediate and early XVIIIth dynasty burials.
All these discoveries were made in a large mound lying nearly
on the axis of the Temple of Der al-Bahari.
At Kfirnah, Professor Petrie in 1907 discovered a stele of a high
official of King Uah-ankh Antef, and other stelae, which are
inscribed with texts recording the part which the officials, for
whom they were made, took in establishing the rule of this
king. At a place to the north of the Tombs of the Kings he
discovered a tomb of the XVIIIth dynasty, containing a con-
siderable number of interesting objects, among others a horn,
two stools, a chair, a blue marble bowl with four figures of
monkeys, etc.
In the cemetery at Kurnat Murrai are large numbers of
tombs, also of the XVIIIth dynasty, but few of them are
sufficiently important to need careful examination. The most
interesting, that of Hui, a viceroy of Nubia under the XVIIIth
dynasty, has been provided with a door by the Administration
of Antiquities, and many will be glad that the uncommon
TOMB OF QUEEN THI. 683
scenes depicted on the walls will be preserved. Those who

have the time and are prepared to face a, large number of
bats, should visit the tomb of Peta- Amen =em» apt, a
nobleman and priest who flourished under the XXVIth
dynasty. During his own lifetime this priest prepared for
himself a tomb containing 22 rooms, and a large number of
corridors, all hewn out of the living rock, and he decorated the
walls of these with texts and scenes referring to the making
of funeral offerings, according to the use employed in the
Pyramid Period ; the ritual of Funeral Sacrifice, with scenes ;
the “ Book of the Gates of the Underworld ” ; and a number
of hymns and religious scenes copied from documents of a
much older period. A great many of these have, unfortu-
nately, been destroyed, but large numbers of passages may
be restored by the help of the texts on the walls of the
corridors and chambers in the pyramids at Sakkarah. In the
Valley of the Tombs of the Queens the most important
sepulchre is that of Queen Thi ; the colouring of the scenes
is very good, and the paintings are com-
paratively well preserved.
In 1903-1904 Messrs. Schiaparelli and
Bellerini opened the tomb of Queen Ast
(No. 51), and the tomb of a person with-
out name (No. 46), and they discovered
the tombs of Queen Nefert-ari-meri-Mut
(No. 66), of Amen-her-khepesh-f (No. 55),
of P-Ra-her-unami-f (No. 42), and of
Aahmeset, the daughter of Seqenen-Ra.
Mr. Seton Karr has shown that the tombs
at Thebes, and elsewhere in Egypt, were
dug out by means of tools made of
chert, and that metal tools were used
for the final shaping and smoothing of
the chambers. He has found numbers
of chert chisels and other tools near the tombs and among
the stone fragments which were cast out from them in ancient
days, and there is reason to believe that tools of this material
were in use for hewing stone so far back as the Neolithic
Period. The light used by the workmen in the course of
their work was, no doubt, that of ordinary lamps, which were
probably suspended from stands. In 1905 a lamp, with stand
complete, was found in 4 tomb a few miles to k the south of
Thebes. ;
68 4 THEBES — LEFT BANK.
io. The Tombs of the Kings, called in Arabic Biban

al-Mulhk, are hewn out of the living rock in a valley, which
is reached by passing the temple at Kurnah ; it is situated
about three or four miles from the river. This valley
contains the tombs of kings of the XVJIIth, XIXth, and
XXth dynasties, and is generally known as the Eastern Valley ;
a smaller valley, the Western, contains the tombs of some of
the kings of the XVIIIth dynasty. These tombs consist of long
inclined planes with a number of chambers or halls receding
into the mountain, sometimes to a distance of 300 feet. Strabo
gives the number of these royal tombs as 40, 17 of which were
open in the time of Ptolemy Lagus. In 1835, 21 were known,
but the labours of Mariette, Professor Maspero, M. Victor
Loret, and Mr. Theodore M. Davis have brought 20 others
to light.
The Tombs of the Kings form a very important and interesting
class of monuments, the like of which exists nowhere else in
Egypt. They were all made between 1700 b.c. and 1050 b.c.,
that is to say, they were hewn and built during the most
flourishing period of Egyptian history, and at a time when
tribute flowed into the country from Syria, Palestine, Libya,
Nubia, and a part of the Northern Sfidan. When we consider
the group as a whole it is easy to see that all are built
practically on one and the same plan ;
the modifications
which occur in the details of each are due partly to structural
difficulties and partly to the difference in the lengths of time
which were devoted to the making of them. If the king
began to build his tomb early in life, and had a long and
successful reign, his tomb would be large, and contain many
chambers, and be elaborately decorated with scenes and texts
from the religious works which were most esteemed at the
time ; if his reign were short and supplies were not forthcoming
to provide the food of the workmen and others employed on
the work, the corridors had to be shortened, and the number of
rooms diminished. It may well be assumed that these tombs
were built by forced labour. One of the commonest religious
views of the Egyptians was that the Tu at, or Underworld,
was a long, narrow valley which ran parallel with Egypt, and
was neither above nor below the level of this earth. It had
a river flowing through the whole length of it. This valley
began on the west bank of the Nile, ran due north, bent
round towards the east when the Delta was approached, and
terminated at the place where the sun rose. It was divided
TOMBS OP THE KINGS. 685
into 10 sections, and at each end was a sort of vestibule or

chamber. The ante chamber at its beginning was called
Amentet, and was a place of gloom ; as the passenger
through this valley went onwards each of the first five
sections grew darker and darker, until at the end of the fifth
section the darkness was absolute. As the passenger moved
on through the last five sections the darkness grew less and
less dense, until at the end of the tenth section he entered
the chamber, the gloom of which resembled that of the
chamber at the beginning of the valley. The whole night,
which was supposed to consist of 12 hours, was occupied in
passing through the Tuat, and the two chambers and the 10
main divisions of it were traversed each in one hour. The
Tuat was a difficult place to pass through, for portions of it
were filled with hideous monsters and horrible reptiles, and a
lake of boiling and stinking water. Religious tradition declared
that the Sun-god Ra had made his way in it seated in his boat,
but that he was only enabled to do so by employing his words
of magical power, and by the exercise of the functions of deity.
The priests declared that they possessed the knowledge of
such words of power, and people believed that if they learned
them, and learned to recognize the various divisions of the
Tuat and the beings in them by means of the pictures which
the priests provided, they could make the journey through the
Tuat in safety, and would rise in the next world with the sun.
The priests of Amen, who promulgated this view, which was
based upon an older system of indigenous belief, presided over the
building of the royal tombs in the XVIIIth dynasty, and made
each tomb to resemble the long, narrow valley of the Tuat by
providing it with long corridors. When the body was deposited
in the tomb the priests repeated the words of power which Ra
was believed to have uttered, and performed ceremonies in
imitation of those of the acts of thegod ; in fact, made very full
use of sympathetic magic, and the worshippers of Amen believed
that their kings would surely and certainly pass safely through
the dark valley, and would overcome all their foes, and would
rise together with the sun to a new life in the next world. Now,
the Sun-god traversed this valley each night in his boat, and, of
course, rose each day ; the aim, then, of every one of his wor-
shippers was to secure a passage in his boat, for if only this
could be obtained resurrection was certain. The doctrine of
the sun-worshippers and the priests of Amen taught that the
souls of all who died during the day made their way to Amentet,
where, provided they were equipped with the knowledge of the

necessary “ divine words,” they entered the boat of the Sun-
god. When they arrived at the kingdom of Osiris at midnight
they were judged, and the blessed were rewarded, and the
wicked were annihilated; this done the boat of the Sun-god passed
on towards the East, where, having destroyed all the nature
powers of night and darkness, i.e.\ cloud, mist, rain, etc., he rose
on this world in glorious strength, and the souls who had chosen
to stay with him rejoiced in renewed light and were happy.
All the inscriptions on these tombs were written to effect
this object, and they may be thus grouped: — (i) The Book
of the Praisings, or Litanies, of Ra, which contains
75 short paragraphs ; each paragraph supplies one of Ra’s
names, and a certain attribute. (2) The Book of the Gates,
i.e., the 12 Gates or Pylons of the 12 divisions of the Tuat.
This book gave the names of the Gates and of their guardians,
and described the various beings that were to be found in
each section, and the texts repeated the addresses which
they made to Ra, and the answers which Ra made to them.
One portion of this book is exceedingly old, and the sympathetic
magic described in it must date from pre-dynastic times.
(3) The Book of what (or, him who)is in the Underworld,
which treats of the 12 divisions of the Underworld, and contains
texts, the knowledge of which was of vital importance to the
deceased. It describes at some length the kingdom of the god
Seker, and the monster serpents which guard it, and reveals the
belief in the existence of a place of doom where the darkness was
impenetrable and the depth unfathomable. This work appears
to represent the dogmas of the most ancient inhabitants of
Egypt with the modifications which were approved of by the
priests of Amen, and it seems that they tried to eliminate the
belief in Osiris, so far as was possible, from their writings, and
to make their god Amen-Ra all sufficient. They did not, how-
ever, succeed in doing so, and the best proof of this fact is
supplied by the sarcophagus of Seti I, now in the Soane
Museum in London. Seti I allowed the “ Book of what is in the
Underworld ” to be inscribed in full on the walls of the chambers
of his tomb, but he had the full text of the Book of Gates,
with all the vignettes, chiselled on his sarcophagus, including
the magical part of it, and to make quite certain of his future
welfare he caused some important chapters to be added from
the old Book of the Dead. Similarly Thothmes III allowed
the walls of his tomb to be covered with the “ Book of what
—
TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 687
is Underworld,” but on one of the swathings of his

in the
mummy find a copy of the CLIVth Chapter of the
we
Book of the Dead. The group of sepulchres called the Tombs
of the Kings may be now briefly enumerated; the order is
chronological :
I (No. 38). Tomb

of Thothmes I. —
This tomb, the oldest
of the Biban al-Muluk, is a small one; it was discovered
by M. Victor Loret in 1899. It contains the royal sar-
cophagus.
II (No. 20). Tomb
of Hatshepset. —
This tomb was
excavated by Mr. Theodore N. Davis in 1903 and 1904. It
has already been described.
III (No. 34). Tomb
of Thothmes III. —
This tomb was
discovered by M. Victor Loret in 1899, an d lies about 325 feet
from the tomb of Rameses III. The walls of the various
chambers are ornamented with figures of the gods and inscrip-
tions, among others being a long list of gods, and a complete
copy of the “ Book of what is in the Underworld.” The
sarcophagus was, of course, found to be empty, for the king’s
mummy was taken from Der al-Bahari, where it had been
hidden by the Egyptians during a time of panic, to the Gizah
Museum about 18 years ago. On a column in the second
chamber we see depicted Thothmes
followed by his mother Aset, his wife
Mert-Ra, his wives Aah-sat and Nebt-
kheru, and his daughter Nefert-aru.
It is to be hoped that steps will
soon be taken to publish the texts
and inscriptions in this tomb. The
mummy of Thothmes III was found
at Der al - Bahari by Professor
Maspero.
IV (No. 35). Tomb of Amen =
—
hetep II. This tomb was found
by M. Victor Loret in 1899, and in
the mummy of the king lying in
it is
itssandstone sarcophagus. Thanks

Plan of the Tomb of
Thothmes IV. to the exertions of Sir William
Garstin, the royal and the mummy
mummies of the private persons that were found in the tomb
and were at first removed, have been replaced, and the visitor
is now able to look upon an impressive scene of death. The
tomb is lit by electric light. The tomb of Amenophis, the son
thebes — left bank.
and successor of Thothmes III, in many respects resembles

that of his father the walls are covered with figures of the
;
gods, with the text of the “ Book of what is in the Underworld,”

and scenes similar to those in the older tomb. Among the
numerous objects found in the tomb may be mentioned -
Three mummies, each with a large hole in the skull, and a gash
in the breast ; fragments of a pink leather cuirass worn by the
king ; a series of statues of Sekhet, Anubis, Osiris, Horus, Ptah,
etc. ; a set of alabaster Canopic vases, a collection of amulets
of all kinds ; a large series of alabaster vessels ; and a number
of mummies of kings and royal personages, among whom are
Thothmes IV, Amenophis III, Menephthah, Rameses IV,
Rameses V, and Rameses VI. Thus in the tomb of Amen-
ophis II we have another hiding-place of royal mummies
similar to that of Der al-Bahari.
V (No. 43). Tomb of Thothmes IV. This tomb was—
excavated in 1902 and 1903 by Mr. Theodore N. Davis, who
has most generously published a detailed description both of it
and its contents ( The Tomb of Thothmes IV, London, 1904).
The tomb lies on the eastern side of the valley, and the descent
to it is made by a flight of steps ; it consists of a well, a hall,
a flight of steps, a sloping corridor, a second flight of steps, a
vestibule, a short passage, and the chamber which contains the
sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was found to be empty. In
the paintings on the walls of the well and vestibule the king is
depicted standing before Osiris, Anubis, Hathor, and Khenth
Amend. A hieratic inscription states that the tomb was
repaired or restored in the reign of Heru-em-heb, the last king
of the XVIlIth dynasty. The inscribed sarcophagus is rounded
at the top and measures 10 feet by 6 feet 6 inches by 5 feet
4 inches. The mummy is that of a man, “young, clean-shaven,
and effeminate,” 5 feet 6 inches high ; the head has a cephalic

index of 777, which places it in the mesaticephalic group.
Circumcision had been performed. According to Mr. G. Elliot
Smith, Thothmes IV was about 25 years of age when he
died. In the sarcophagus chamber the body of a chariot
was found. This magnificent object is now in the Museum at
Cairo, and is one of the most interesting objects of the period
which has ever been found. No one who is interested in
Egyptian antiquities should fail to see it. On the right side of
the chariot (exterior) the king, accompanied by the god of war,
Menthu, is seen in his chariot charging the foe and shooting
arrows among the hostile charioteers ; on the left side (exterior)
the king is seen in his chariot riding down his foes and slaying
numbers of them. On the inside of the chariot Thothmes is
1903.)
Davis,
N.
Foes.
Theodore
his
Mr.
Charging
by
Chariot
discovered
his
in
Chariot
IV
the
Thothmes
of
body
the
(From
depicted in the form of a human-headed lion, the paws of which

rest upon the prostrate forms of enemies. The nations con-
2 x
quered come from Nehiren, Sanker, Tunep, Shasu, Ketesh,

Thikhisa, and other regions. (For further particulars about the
chariot, see Professor Maspero’s account in Mr. Davis’s Tomb
of Thothmes IV) In a corner of a small chamber by the side
of the sarcophagus chamber, “ resting in an erect position against
“ the wall, was a denuded mummy
of a boy, whose stomach and
“ cage had been ripped open by the ancient plunderers
“ with a very sharp knife ” (Mr. Howard Carter, in Tomb of
Thothmes IV, p. 10).
VI (No. 22). Tomb of Amen = hetep III. — This tomb is
in the Western Valley, and it seems not to have been finished.

Its total length is about 370 feet,
and, like many of the best tombs,
it contains a deep, rectangular
shaft, commonly called a well,
which was intended either to bar
the way of the thief or to mislead
him. The scenes on the walls
represent the king standing before
gods of the Underworld, and are
unimportant, but the astronomical
scenes painted on the ceilings are
of considerable interest. The
sarcophagus is broken, and the
mummy was hidden in a chamber in
Plan of the Tomb of the tomb of Amen-hetep II, where
Amen-hetep III.
it was found by M. Loret in 1899.
VII (No. 23). Tomb of Ai. — This tomb is in the Western
Valley, and is called Tomb of the Apes, because of the
picture of 12 apes, which probably forms part of the vignette of
the First Hour of the Night.
VIII (No. 16). Tomb
of Rameses I. —
This tomb was
discovered by Belzoni and excavated by M. Loret ; the royal
sarcophagus, made of granite, is in its chamber. The mummy
was found at Der al-Bahari by Professor Maspero, and is now
in the museum at Cairo.
IX (No. 17). Tomb
of Seti I, called also “ Belzoni’s
Tomb,” because it was discovered by him in 1817. This is the
most important and interesting of all the royal tombs, and
should be carefully examined, because it may be regarded as
the best known type of the tombs which were planned by the
priests of Amen. The walls are ornamented with texts and
mythological and religious scenes which refer to the passage of
TOMBS OB THE KINGS. 69I
the Sun, and of the king also, through the Underworld,

“ Book
the walls of the sloping corridor is a copy of the
and on those of the chambers are the texts

r of the 12 sections of the “ Book of what is
d ” the twelfth section is, for some extra-
;
2X2
ordinary reason, omitted. A copy of the first half of the short

form of this work is also written on some of the walls, and the
scribe was stopped so suddenly in his work that he did not finish
the section which he had begun. It will be noticed that some
of the figures of gods, etc., are only traced in outline, a fact
which suggests that the tomb was not finished when the
king died, and that afterwards no attempt was made to finish
it. It is impossible to describe the scenes on the walls in
detail ; it is sufficient to draw attention to the excellence and
beauty of the paintings and sculptures, and to point out that
the whole series refers to the life of the king in the Under-
world. The tomb is entered by means of two flights of steps,
at the bottom of which is a passage terminating in a deep well.
Beyond this are two halls having four and two pillars respec-
tively, and to the left are the passages and
small chambers which lead to the large
six-pillared hall and vaulted chamber in
which stood the sarcophagus of Seti I.
Here also is an inclined plane which
descends into the mountain for a con-
siderable distance ; from the level of the
ground to the bottom of this incline the
depth is about 150 feet; the length of the
tomb is nearly 500 feet. The designs on
the walls were first sketched in outline in
red, and the alterations by the master
designer or artist were made in black.
The mummy of Seti I, found at Der al-
Plan of the Tomb
Bahari, is preserved in the museum at
Cairo. The beautiful alabaster sarco-
phagus of Seti I, inscribed with the texts and scenes of the
“ Book of the Gates,” was taken to London by Belzoni and sold
by him to Sir John Soane for ^2,000 ; this magnificent object
is now in the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.
In 1903-1904 Mr. Howard Carter carried out a series of repairs

in various parts of the tomb of Seti I. More than one-half of
the cost of these was defrayed by Mr, Robert Mond, who
also assisted in making a planfor work.
—
X (No. 7). Tomb of Rameses II. This tomb has become
choked with sand and limestone fragments, in such a way that
it appears to have been filled up on purpose ; it was probably
faulty in construction. The mummy of the king was found

at Der al-Bahari in a coffin, which may possibly be the
—
work of the XXIInd dynasty, and is now in the Egyptian

Museum at Cairo.
XI (No. 10). Tomb of Amen = meses. — A man who
usurped the royal power for a short time ;
the tomb is in a
ruined condition.
XII (No. 8). Tomb of Mer = en = Ptah (Menephthah).
This tomb is decorated with texts from the “ Book of the
Praisings of Ra,” and from the “Book of the Gates the
sarcophagus is in its chamber. The mummy of the king was
Plan of the Tomb of Rameses II. Plan of the Tomb of Amen-meses.
found by M. Loret in the tomb of Amen-hetep II in 1899, and

is now in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. This tomb was
completely excavated in 1903-4 by Mr. Howard Carter,
from whose description of it, in Atmales du Service tom. VI, ,
fasc. 2, p. 1 16, I have taken the plan given on page 694.

—
XIII (No. 15). Tomb of Seti II. This tomb appears not
to have been finished. It was completely cleared out by
Mr. Howard Carter in 1903-4 at the expense of Mrs. Goff.
It has been provided with an iron gate.
694 PLAN OF THE TOMB OF MENEPHTHAH 1.
Metres
* 1
20
s
Plan of the Tomb of Menephthah I.

TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 6 95
XIV (No. 14). Tomb of Set = nekht, father of Rameses III ;
the tomb was originally made for the queen Ta-usert, whose
inscriptions and figures were obliterated by Set-nekht.
XV (No. 3). This tomb was made for Rameses III it is ;
now choked with sand.

XVI (No. n). Tomb of Rameses III. This tomb is—
commonly called “ Bruce’s Tomb,” because it was discovered
by this traveller, and the “ Tomb of the Harper,” on account
of the scenes in which men are represented
playing harps. The walls are inscribed with
texts from the “ Book of the Praisings of
Ra,” and the “ Book of what is in the
Underworld,” and the “ Book of the Gates,”
and several vignettes from the last two works
are painted upon them. The architect did
not leave sufficient space between this and a
neighbouring tomb, and hence, after exca-
vating passages and chambers to a distance
of more than 100 feet, he was obliged to turn
to the right to avoid breaking into it. The
flight of steps leading into the tomb is not as
steep as that in No. 17, the paintings and
sculptures are not so fine, and the general
plan of ornamentation differs. The scenes on
the walls of the first passage resemble those
in the first passage of No. 17, but in the other
passages and chambers warlike, domestic, and
agricultural scenes and objects are depicted.
The body of the red granite sarcophagus of
Rameses III is in Paris, the cover is in the
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the
mummy of this king is in the Egyptian
Museum at Cairo. The length of the tomb is
ab °ut 40° fe e t. Plan of the Tomb
XVII (No. 2). Tomb of Rameses IV. 0 f Seti 11.
— This tomb is probably the finest example of
the royal tombs of the XXth dynasty, which are built on a
comparatively small scale. The texts and scenes which
ornament the walls of the chambers and corridors are from the
three works quoted above, but several of the vignettes that
appear in this tomb are not found elsewhere. It is interesting
to note that in the first room copies of Chapters CXXIII,
CXXIV, and CXXVII of the Book of the Dead are given.
696 THEBES — LEFT BANK
Plan of the Tomb of Set-nekht Plan of the Tomb of Rameses III,

The granite sarcophagus of the king, of colossal proportions

(r2 feet by 9 feet by 7 feet), is in its proper chamber. A
pecuxiar interest attaches to this tomb, for it is the only
Egyptian tomb of which an ancient plan has been found ; this
plan is traced on a papyrus, now unfortunately in a mutilated
condition, which is preserved at Turin, and was published by

Lepsius and Chabas. These scholars succeeded in deciphering
the descriptions of the chambers of the tomb given in the
document, and the former, having made careful measurements
of the dimensions of the
various sections of the
rooms, decided that the
work had been substan-
tially carried out in ac-
cordance with the plan.
XVIII (No. 9). Tomb
of Rameses VI. This —
tomb was well known to
Greek and Roman visitors
to Thebes, several of
whom, with very question-
able taste, left behind
them records of their
visits in the form of in-
scriptions on its walls.
From some of these
“ graffiti ” it is clear that
their writers regarded this
tomb as that of Memnon,
who has usually been iden-
tified with Amen-hetep
III; this mistake was
caused by the fact that
the prenomen of Amen- Plan of the first Tomb of Rameses III.
hetep III and the first part

of that of Rameses VI, “Neb-Maat Ra,” © are identical.
Some of the graffiti belong to a period so late as the fourth

century of our era. The paintings of an astronomical character
in the sarcophagus chamber are the only pointy of special
tomb.
interest in this
XIX(No. 6). Tomb of Rameses IX. This tomb is —
remarkable for the variety of sculptures and paintings of a
6 98 THEBES— LEFT BANK.
nature entirely different from those found

in the other royal tombs ; they appear to
refer to the idea of resurrection after death
arid of immortality, which is here sym-
bolized by the principle of generation.
XX (No. 1). Tomb of Rameses X.
XXI (No. 18). Tomb of Rameses XI.
(Now used as an engine room.)
XXII (No. 4). Tomb of
Rameses XII. — This tomb
was not finished.
XXIII (No. 5). An en-
trance a
to corridor or
chamber, uninscribed.
XXIV (No. 12). An un-
inscribed mummy pit.
XXV (No. 13). Tomb of
Bai, an official of Sa-Ptah.
XXVI (No. 19). Tomb of
Ment her - khepesh-f,
- already
mentioned.
XXVII (No. 21), An un-
inscribed mummy pit.
XXVIII (No. 24). Unin-
scribed tomb in the Western
Valley.
|
XXIX (No. 25). Unin-
scribed tomb in the Western
Valley.
XXX-XXXVII (Nos. 26-
33). Uninscribed mummy pits
vj" or tombs.
XXXVIII, XXXIX (Nos.
36, 37).Tombs not royal. Tomb of
XL-XLII (Nos. 39-41). Rameses IV.
Uninscribed mummy pits.
(trom a
l a P>" us
XLIII (No. 42). Tomb of >
Sen-nefer, XVII 1 th dynasty.

XLIV (No. 44). Tomb of Thentkaru.
XLV (No. 45). Tomb of Userhat.
XL VI. The tomb of Sa = Ptah. This
tomb was discovered by Mr. Theodore M.
during the excavations which he Plan of the Tomb oj
Davis
Rameses IV.
L
yoo THEBES— LEFT BANK.
carried out in 1905-7 at the southern extremity of the Valley of

the Tombs of the Kings. In a bay close by are situated the
tombs of Seti II, Queen Ta-usert, Bai and Sa-Ptah. The plan of
the tomb is that of most tombs of the latter part of the XIXth and
of the XXth dynasties. The large hall of the tomb is approached
through three corridors and a small square chamber, and its roof
was supported by four columns ; in the centre of it is a cutting
which leads down into a corridor. Beyond the hall are two
Plan ot the Tomb ot Plan of the Tomb of Plan of the Tomb of

Rameses VII (?) Rameses X. Rameses XI
corridors and a small room. The walls and roof are decorated
in bright colours, and in the first corridor is the text of the
famous Litany of Ra, with its 75 sections complete. The
mythological scenes are similar to those which are found in
tombs of the XIXth and XXth dynasties.
the royal
Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau, the father and
XLVII.
mother of Thi, wife of Amen-hetep III, about 1450 b,c,
This important tomb was discovered by Mr. Theodore M.

Davis on February 12th, 1905. Early in that year this
gentleman began to excavate a site which had been chosen for
him by Prof. Maspero, Director-General of the Department
of Antiquities of Egypt, mid-way between the tombs of
Rameses IV and Rameses XII, on the west bank of the Nile.
In the course of the work a flight of steps leading down into
the ground was discovered, and at its foot the way was blocked
by a doorway filled with large stones. When some of these
Inscribed Coffer from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau.
had been removed, a boy was sent through the opening, and
he returned with a staff of office in one hand, and a yoke of
a chariot plated with gold in the other. Mr. Davis then passed
through the opening, and found himself at the head of a second
flight of steps, twenty in number, on which were lying some
objects which had been stolen from the tomb some thirty-four
centuries ago. The thieves had been disturbed in their work,
and probably dropped these as they fled. On the following
7°2 THEBES — LEFT BANK.
day the tomb was formally opened in the presence of the

Duke of Connaught, and those who were allowed to enter it ;
saw the most curious and gorgeous funeral furniture which has :
ever been seen in an Egyptian tomb. Mum my- cases plated

with gold, exquisitely formed alabaster vases, painted boxes 1
and chairs, a chariot, etc., lay piled one above the other in
barbaric profusion. The sepulchral chamber is about 30 feet
long, 1 5 feet wide, and 8 feet high. To the left of the entrance
!
were two large wooden sarcophagi, painted blue and gold, each
containing two coffins, two for the man and two for the woman, !
who were the occupants of the tomb. Each outer case was
Set of Canopic Vases from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau.
plated with gold outside and lined with silver, and each inner
case was plated with gold outside and lined with gold leaf.
Near the wall to the right were two mats made of palm leaves,
which are commonly called “ Osiris beds/’ On the mats
layers of damp earth were laid, and in the earth wheat was
planted in such a fashion as to outline figures of Osiris. When
the grain grew up the form of the god appeared in living green.
Primarily the placing of an Osiris mat in the tomb was merely
an act of sympathetic magic, but there is reason to believe
that in the XVIIIth dynasty spiritual beliefs of a high character
were connected with the custom. At the western end of the

tomb were and oil, and
several large sealed jars full of wine
small boxes containing pieces of cooked meat wrapped up in
black muslin. Above these was the chariot already mentioned,
and close by was the set of “ Canopic ” jars, which contained
some of the intestines of the deceased. Elsewhere in the tomb
were found sandals made of papyrus and leather, boxes to hold
ushabtiu boxes, and ushabtiu made of wood, alabaster, gold
and silver, and painted wooden vases. Worthy of special
note are:
—
(1) A box for holding the clothes of the deceased
made of palm-wood and papyrus; inside it is a shelf pro-
vided with papyrus flaps. (2) A box plated with gold
and blue porcelain. (3) A box, on four legs, with a
Inside of Head of Bedstead of Iuaa and Thuau.
rounded cover, inlaid with ivory ;

the names and titles ot
Amen-hetep and Thi are given gold painted on a blue

in
ground. (4) A long bed, with the head-piece ornamented with
panels, wherein are figures of the old deities Bes and Ta-urt
made of gilded ivory. This is undoubtedly the bed whereon
the deceased had slept during their lives, and the plaited flax
on which they lay is curved by use. (5) A chair ornamented
with reliefs in gilded plaster. On each side is a figure
of a gazelle, and a triple emblem of “ life.” In it is a cushion
stuffed with goose-feathers. (6) A chair of state, with solid
sides and back, ornamented with figures of gods and of
7 °4 THEBES LEFT BANK.
Sat-Amen, daughter of Queen Thi. In front, at each side just

above the legs, is a carved female head ; the seat of the chair is
made of plaited palm-leaves. (7) A
chair of state which, like
the preceding, belonged to Sat-Amen, with a representation of
the deceased sitting with a cat under her chair. The picture is
lined by the so-called “ Greek fret,” the result, some think, of
intercourse between Egypt and the Aigean. All the objects in
the tomb are beautiful, and nearly all of them are plated with
gold, or covered with gold leaf, or decorated in some way with
Chair of State from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuam
the precious metal. The effect of so much gold is to give many

of the objects a garish appearance, but it in no way destroys the
beauty of their shapes and forms. When we remember that
Amen-hetep III was master of all the gold-producing districts
in the Sftdan, we need not be surprised at such a display of
gold on the funeral furniture of one of his fathers-in-law and
one of his mothers-in-law. The forms of the name of Queen
Thi’s father are Iuaa, Aaa, Aaa, and Aaaa,

AW
f
,
and °n
^
and Erpa ha,” “ Smer-en-smeru,” for which it
his titles were “
is impossible to find exact modern equivalents, and he was
called the “ mouth of the king of the South, and the ears of the
king of the North,” AWAAA

( ^ ^^^
The officeswhich he held were those of “ seal-bearer ” or
“ chancellor,” and “ priest of Menu ” (or, Amsu), and he was
the “ overseer of the cattle of the god Menu in the city of Apu”
(Panopolis). His wife Thuau is called the
C.nrl)t from the Tomb of Iuaa and Thuau.
“ ornament of the king,” and she was a “ priestess
(4" shemat) of Amen.” Her husband is described as the
“ divine father (i.e., father-in-law) of the lord of the two lands,”

is often mentioned as the
“ royal mother of the great
and she
royal wife.” Nowhere on the objects found in the tomb have
we a hint as to their nationality, but it seems quite clear that
they were not Egyptians. On the scarabs which Amen-hetep III
had made to commemorate his marriage with Thi, the names of
her father and mother are given without the addition of any
2 Y
706 THEBES LEFT BANK,
title of honour, and without the sign or

^ which would
indicate that her parents were foreigners, but it is nevertheless
probable that they were. From the way in which Queen Thi
is addressed by some of the writers of the Tell al-‘Amarna
Tablets, we are justified in assuming that they were addressing

a countrywoman, which is probably the case. The titles of
luaa and Thuau mentioned above afford no reason for doubting
this, for nothing would be more natural than for Amen-hetep III
to bestow high rank and titles upon his chief wife’s parents.
Meanwhile there is reason for believing that Queen Thi’s
influence made her son reject the pretensions of the priests of
Amen, and it seems that her religious opinions were unlike
those of the orthodox Egyptians of Thebes. Further light has
undoubtedly been thrown on this point by the publication of
the volume by Mr. Theodore M. Davis, which has recently
appeared.
The Tomb of Thi was discovered by Mr. Theodore M.
Davis in January, 1907. The tomb of this queen is situated
close to the large rock mound in which Rameses IX had his
tomb made, and it was buried beneath a huge pile of limestone
debris which was thrown out by the masons when they were
making the tomb of Rameses VI. Mr. Davis sank a pit through
this until he came to a layer of clean dry limestone fragments.
Below this he came upon a flight of well-cut stone steps, and
so was certain that he had discovered a tomb of the XVIIIth
dynasty. He then cleared down to the entrance to the tomb,
which was closed by a loosely-built wall of limestone fragments.
When this was removed rough blocks of limestone were found,
which were covered with hard cement and sealed with the seal
of the Brotherhood of Amen-Ra —
a jackal crouching over nine
captives. The corridor was partly filled with pieces of lime-
stone, and near the door was a sort of wooden sled covered
with gold leaf, and having on each side a line of inscrip-
tion. On it lay a gold-covered wooden door, decorated with
a scene representing the queen worshipping the solar disk. On
the gold covering was stamped the cartouche of Queen Thi.
Passing onwards in the corridor a second doorway was reached,
and a large oblong room was entered. On the slope leading
from the door to this room lay another wooden door, and by it
stood an alabaster vase-stand. In the room were portions of
gold-covered boxes, and in a small recess stood the four Canopic
jars. Beneath the recess lay a wooden coffin covered with gold
leafand inlaid with carnelian and glass ; it had fallen in on one

side,and the head of the mummy, on which was a gold crown,
was visible. When the coffin was cleared the mummy was
found to be that of a small person with delicate head and hands.
From the clasped hands to the feet, the body was covered with
pure gold sheets, called gold foil, but nearly all so thick that
when taken in the hands they would stand alone without
bending. The condition of the mummy was such that it could
not be preserved. The gold crown was removed and the
beautiful necklace, and they are now in the Museum in Cairo.
When all the swathings had been removed Mr. Davis had the
bones taken out, and they were examined by two surgeons who
happened to be staying at Thebes at the time, and who reported
that the pelvis was “ evidently that of a woman.” Their decision
was accepted, and most people believed that the body was that
of Queen Thi. Subsequently, however, the bones were sent to
Dr. Elliot Smith for his inspection, and he decided that they
were those of a man ! The skull, according to the same autho-
rity, is that of a man about 25 or 26 years of age. Now who
was the man ? Prof. Maspero thinks that the vault in which
the mummy was discovered is not a real tomb, but a rough cell
in the rock which had been used as a secret burial place of a
member of the family of the so-called heretic kings. It was
removed from its original tomb to place it beyond the reach of
fanatical sectarians, who would have destroyed it ; no ordinary

robber did this, for he would certainly have stolen the gold
crown, necklace, &c.
^
The removal was perhaps effected by
King Ai, or King Tutankh-Amen. If we accept the testimony
of the inscriptions, the body must have been that of Khu-en-
Aten, or Amen-hetep IV, the “ heretic king ” himself. It is
possible that the mummies of this king’s family were removed
with all their furniture to Thebes, and that when the opportu-
nity occurred of laying them in their new resting places, the
men who were in charge of these secret burials mixed the coffins,
—
and put the son where the mother ought to have been in fact,
that Khu-en-Aten’s body was buried in Thi’s tomb by mistake.
There is still a chance that the tomb appointed for Khu-en-
Aten may be discovered in the Valley of the Tombs of the
Kings at Thebes with Thi’s mummy lying in it in state among
her son’s funerary furniture.
2 Y 2
V.— LUXOR TO ASWAN*
The first Luxor is Armant, or Erment,
station passed after
with 12,513 inhabitants; it is 458^ miles from Cairo, and |
nine from Luxor. Here is a large, flourishing sugar factory,

which is the property of the Egyptian Government. Close by j
stood the ancient town of Annu shemat, i.e, } the Southern On,
in distinction to the Northern On, />., Heliopolis ; classical
writers called the town Hermonthis, and Strabo says that
Apollo and Jupiter were worshipped there. I11 ancient Egyptian
times the chief deity of Hermonthis was Menthu, a local god
of war, whose attributes were merged into those of a form of
Horus. The ruins near are those of the temple dedicated to \
Isis, which was built by Cleopatra VII, Tryphaena, and is |
commonly known as the Iseion. It is certain that an Egyptian

town must have stood here in very early times, and the
numerous remains which are found in the neighbourhood ,
indicate that it was in its most flourishing state before the j
princes of Thebes attained to the supreme power in the I

country, and before they made Thebes their capital. A little i|
to the east of Armant lies the town of Tud, with 7,715 in-
habitants, which some have identified with the Tuphium of
classical writers ; Tud, we know, was a flourishing village in
early Coptic times, but Tuphium was probably further south.
Gebelen, an Arabic name meaning the “Two Mountains,”
is a village about nine miles from Armant, and lies on the 1
west bank of the river; it marks the site of the Greek town
Crocodilopolis, the chief god of which was Sebek, who was j
incarnate in the crocodile. The district was inhabited in the j
earliest times, for large numbers of flints, pottery, dried human

bodies, etc., of the predynastic period have been found here ; i
and the ruins in the neighbourhood prove that a town existed i
here early in the dynastic period.

The next railway station is Asfun al = Mata ‘nah ; the town
has 8,268 inhabitants. On the west bank, a few miles to the
north, stood the ancient Egyptian city of Hetsfent ; the classical
writers turned the name into Asphynis, and it forms the base
of the name of the modern Arab village.
Asna, or Esna, with 19. i°3 inhabitants, 484^ miles
from Cairo, has its station on the east bank of the river. The
Egyptians called the city which stood on the west bank Sent,
and it marks the site of the ancient Latopolis, and was so called
by the Greeks because its inhabitants worshipped the Latus
fish. Thothmes III founded a temple here, but the interesting
TEMPLE OF ASNA. 709
building which now stands almost in the middle of the modern

town is of late date, and bears the names of some of the Roman
Emperors, e.g., Vespasian, Decius (a.p. 249-251). The portico
is supported by 24 columns, each of which is inscribed; their
Plan of Temple of Asna, with restorations by Grand Bey.
capitals arehandsome. The Zodiac here, like that at Denderah,

belongs to a late period, but is interesting. The temple was
dedicated to the god Khnemu, his wife Nebuut, and their
offspring Kahra. The mountains near Asna afforded homes for
yio al-maham!d.
Christian recluses and monks in very early times, and in the

third century the population of ascetics here was very consider-
able. Under Decius a systematic attempt was made to suppress
Christianity in Egypt, and the monks were forced to perform
military service ; their persistent refusals to do this had a great
deal to do with the furious persecutions of Christians which
took place under Decius and Diocletian. Coptic records are
full of allusions to monks who lived in and about Asna,
and the district is remarkable from being the birthplace of
Pachomius, one of the greatest leaders and preachers of
asceticism, and the founder of a famous monastery. In the
reign of Decius, the last of the Roman Emperors whose names
and figures occur on the walls of the temple of Asna, it was
decreed that every man should offer sacrifice to the gods of
Rome those who complied received certificates from the
;
magistrates, and those who did not were punished or put to death.
In 1906 Mr. John Garstang completed the excavation of
a site in the neighbourhood of Asna which has proved of
considerable importance from the historical standpoint, inas-
much as it has provided what is possibly the most representative
and complete series of Egyptian antiquities of the Hyksos
Period. During the course of these excavations a systematic
exploration has been made of the desert lying to the south of
Asna for a distance of sixty miles. In 1905 Professor Sayce
carried out the excavation of a XUth dynasty cemetery at
Ad-Der, close to Asna, and he brought to light a number of
antiquities which illustrate the characteristics of the local manu-
factures of the city called Latopolis by the Greeks and of its
neighbourhood.
The next large village on the railway is Al = Mahamid, with
4,524 inhabitants, and on the opposite bank of the river is the
ruined pyramid of Abkulah, which is probably the tomb of some
prince or high official who lived in the city of Hierakonpolis, a
few miles further south.
Al-Kab, 502 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the
river, marks the position of the ancient Egyptian city of
Nekheb, which existed in the earliest times. The deity
worshipped here was called Nekhebet, and she was regarded
as the greatest goddess of Upper Egypt ; she became incarnate
in the vulture. The city of Nekheb was the oldest ecclesiastical
centre of Upper Egypt, just as Per-Uatchet was of Lower
Egypt, and in dynastic times kings were proud to boast of
their dominion over these two cities, which they symbolized
;
AL-KAB. 7II
by the signs ,
and each chose a title for himself
by which this fact was made known. It would seem that the
goddess Nekhebet was the special protectress of women with
child, for the Greeks identified her with Eileithyia, their own
goddess of childbirth, and they called her city Eileithyiaspolis.
At a very early period the inhabitants of Nekheb surrounded
their little fortress-city with a wall, and this being apparently
insufficient to protect it, they added a second wall ; the
buildings within the inner wall probably consisted of a temple,
containing no doubt the original sanctuary of Nekhebet, the
offices of government, and the house of a small number of
officials. The outer wall seems to have enclosed an area
measuring 470 feet by 440 feet. Near this portion of Al-Kab
a large number of graves of the predynastic and archaic
periods have been found, side by side with mastabah tombs,
built of crude bricks. The small predynastic graves were
found chiefly inside the fort of Al-Kab, but there were a few
outside the walls, and it was evident, from the position in
which the bodies were buried, and the style and character of
the objects found in the graves, that they belonged to the
same class of graves as those which were excavated at
Abydos, Balias, and Nakadah between 1894 and 1897 and in
1900 by Messrs, de Morgan, Amelineau, and Petrie. At a
later period, probably in dynastic times, the old fortress-town
and some additional space were enclosed by a massive mud
brick wall some jo feet thick, and probably from 25 to 30 feet
high ;
remains
of this wall, 20 feet high, are still to be
seen. The
area enclosed by this wall is about 1,900 feet long
and 1,800 feet wide. Thothmes IV built a small temple here,
Amen-hetep III dedicated a small temple to Nekhebet, and
Seti I and Rameses II carried out some small works at Al-Kab.
Of the Ptolemaic period the chief remains are the rock-hewn
temple dedicated to Nekhebet by Ptolemy IX and Ptolemy X.
In 1892-3 Mr. Somers Clarke and Mr. J. J. Tylor examined
and described many of the buildings and tombs at Al-Kab,
and subsequently Professor Sayce made some excavations
here. In 1898 Mr. Quibell excavated the cemetery of the
Ancient Empire.
In 1901 Mr. Somers Clarke and Professor Sayce excavated
a group of tombs of the Ilnd and Illrd dynasties which they
found on the southern side of the north line of the great wall
on a granite fragment they identified the Horus name of
—
712 TOMBS OF AL-KAB.
Kha-sekhemui. Most of the graves, they think, belong to the

period of the reign of Seneferu, i.e. about the end of the
t
Illrd dynasty. In 1902 Messrs. Clarke and Sayce continued

the excavation of the cemetery, and in one grave found
a copper mirror and some stone beads. The tomb pit was
filled up they noticed, “and the filling was raised above the
“ ground level and finished with a curved section. Over this
“ brickwork w as laid, and in result it had externally an arched
T
“ form, but the structure was not in any way a constructed

“ arch.” These tombs resembled the tombs of the Ilnd dynasty
found at Nagaa ad-Der by Dr. Reisner. In 1904 the excava-
tion of the cemetery was again continued, and a tomb near
that of Sebek-neferu was cleared out ; it was made for a man
called Usertsen. The graves of dynasties I-IV are to the
north of the temple, and those of the Middle Empire to the
east of it. Mr. Somers Clarke has collected a series of facts
connected with the great wall of Al-Kab and its foundations
which will, when finally worked out, decide the question as to
when the dynastic town was enclosed, and its wall built. For
the details see Annales du Set'vice tom. vi, Cairo, 1905,
,
page 264 ff. In the hills are the tombs of :
Aahmes (Amasis), the son of Abana, an officer born in the

reign of Seqenen Ra; he fought against the Hyksos, and
served under Amasis I, Amenophis I, and Thothmes I. The
inscription on the walls of his tomb gives an account of the
campaign against some Mesopotamian enemies of Egypt and
the siege of their city. Amasis was the “ Captain-General of
Sailors.” It is an interesting text both historically and gram-
matically.
The Tomb of Paheri is a little over 25 feet long and
feetwide, and when complete consisted of a platform
before the entrance in which the shaft leading to the mummy
chamber was sunk, a sculptured facade, an oblong chamber
with an arched roof, and a shrine, which contained three
statues, at the end of the chamber. Subsequently two
chambers and a shaft were hewn through the last wall. The
shrine contains three life-size statues of Paheri and his mother
and wife. The man for whom the tomb was made was the
governor of the Latopolite nome in the reign of Thothmes III,
and he was descended from ancestors who had served the
State for several generations. His maternal grandfather was
the celebrated Aahmes, the son of Abana, and the inscriptions
mention at least seven generations of his family. The scenes
TOMBS OF AL-KAB. ^13
in the tomb are worthy of careful examination, and, as they

are described in hieroglyphics, they are of peculiar interest.
all
They unfortunately tell us little or nothing of the biography of
Paheri, who was an Egyptian gentleman of high rank and
social position, but who did little towards making history ; that
he was a pious man who worshipped the gods of his country
diligently, is attested by the sacrificial scenes on the East Wall,
and the prayers on the ceiling.
The Tomb of Aahmes, the son of Pen-nekheb, a fellow-
officerwith Aahmes, the son of Abana. This distinguished man
served under four kings — Aahmes I, Amen-hetep I, Thothmes I,
and Thothmes II, and he appears to have lived on until the
reign of Thothmes III ; he fought in Nubia, Syria, Palestine,
and other countries of Western Asia, and on one occasion he
saved his master’s life by hacking off the trunk of an elephant
which had attacked him.
The Tombs of Setu and Renna, both priestly officials
who flourished under the XIXth dynasty.
The Tomb of Sebek-Nekht, a comparatively small
tomb, is of considerable interest, because it belongs either to
the period of the Xlllth dynasty or a little later. The scenes
and inscriptions are characteristic of this period, and illustrate
the manners and customs of the time rather than the perform-
ance of the religious ceremonies which were depicted on the
walls of the tombs of a later date.
On the west bank of the river, about four miles south of
Al-Kab, on the skirts of the desert, lie the ruins of the ancient
city called by the Greeks Hierakonpolis, because the chief
god worshipped there was a hawk ; the modern name of the
hill near isKom al-Ahmar, i.e., “Red Hill.” At this place
Mr. Quibell discovered a number of important monuments of
the Archaic Period, including the remarkable green slate
object with reliefs upon it, which has been commonly but
erroneously called a “ palette.” This object appears to have
been made for a king called Nar-mer, and is in the Egyptian
Museum at Cairo ; no visitor who is interested in the archaic
art of Egypt should fail to see it. Prof. Naville has proved
that the object probably contained the emblem or symbol of
some god which occupied the circular hollow in the centre of
it. This symbol was, no doubt, made of some valuable sub-
stance, perhaps of gold inlaid with precious stones, and was
therefore stolen in ancient days. Here also was discovered
the life-size bronze statue of King Pepi I, which illustrates the
7 t4 TEMPLE OF EDF6.
great skill of workers in bronze under the Vlth dynasty. This

also is in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, and should certainly
be inspected.
Edfti, with 9,499 inhabitants, 515J miles from Cairo, on
the west bank of the river, was called in Egyptian Behutet,
and in Coptic At bo ; it was called by the Greeks Apollinopolis
Magna, because a form of Horus, the Sun-god, was worshipped
in the city. The crocodile and its worshippers were detested.
The Temple of Edfu, for which alone both the ancient and
modern towns were famous, occupied 180 years, 3 months, and
14 days in building, that is to say, it was begun during the
reign of Ptolemy III, Euergetes I, 237 b.c., and finished 57 b.c.
It resembles that of Denderah in many respects, but its complete
condition marks it out as one of the most remarkable buildings
in Egypt, and its splendid towers, about 112 feet high, make
its general magnificence very striking. The space enclosed by
the walls measures 450 feet by 120 feet; the front of the
propylon from side to side measures about 252 feet. Passing
through the door the visitor enters a court, around three sides
of which runs a gallery supported on 32 pillars. The first and
second halls, a, b, have 18 and 12 pillars respectively; passing
through chambers c and d, the sanctuary e is reached, where
stood a granite naos in which a figure of Horus, to whom the
temple is dedicated, was preserved. This naos was made by
Nectanebus I, a king of the XXXth dynasty, 378 b.c. The
pylons are covered with battle scenes, and the walls are
inscribed with the names and sizes of the various chambers
in the building, lists of names of places, etc. ; the name of the
architect, I-em-hetep, or Imouthis, has also been inscribed.
From the south side of the pylons, and from a small chamber
on each side of the chamber c, staircases ascended to the
roof. The credit of clearing out the temple of Edfti belongs
to M. Mariette. Little more than 40 years ago the mounds of
rubbish outside reached to the top of its walls, and certain parts
of the roof were entirely covered over with houses and stables.
Some few years ago the great wall on the west side of the
Edfu Temple collapsed, and there was reason to fear that
the whole of the roofing of the temple would fall in likewise.
Sir William Garstin took the matter in hand at once, and
Lord Cromer secured a grant of 1,500, and Monsieur
Barsanti was despatched to rebuild the wall and repair any
damage which the building had suffered through its fall.
M. Barsanti has completed the work of restoration in a most
TEMPLE OF EDFU. 715
satisfactory manner, and the whole temple is now stronger than

it has been for centuries.
A few miles to the south of Edfu, on the eastern bank of the
Plan of the Great Temple of Edfu.
Nile, is town of Radasiyah, with 10,380 inhabitants,

the
from which a road runs to the emerald mines of Mount
ji6 temple of radasIyah.
Zabarah ; these lie about 40 miles from the town of Berenice

on the Red Sea, about 210 miles distant from Edfu. The
road is a very old one, and was provided with wells at long
intervals, and it was traversed by officials and others until
the end of the fourteenth century of our era. - About 40
miles from the Nile is an ancient well, which was, apparently,
either cleared out or deepened by Seti I, about 1370 b.c. ; this
king dug some new wells close by, and also built there a temple,
with a rock-hewn sanctuary, which he dedicated to the god
Amen-Ra. The reliefs depict the king vanquishing the peoples
of the Eastern Desert, and making offerings to the gods. The
mining district, or perhaps the whole road, seems to have been
under the Egyptian Governor of Nubia, for a stele there makes
mention of Ani, the commander of the Matchai, or Nubian
Temple of Seti I on the road between Radasiyah and Berenice.

(From Lepsius.)
soldiers,whose duty was to protect caravans returning from the

mines with emeralds and mother-of-emerald to Egypt. This
desert station seems to have been commanded by a Nubian,
even in the days of Amen-hetep III, for Merimes, “royal son
of Kesh,” has left his name there. The official who dug the
well or wells for Seti I was called Ani. The local goddess of
the place was called Aasith, the correct reading of whose name
we owe to M. Golenischeff ; she is represented on horseback,
and as she holds a shield in one hand she was a goddess of
war, probably of Asiatic origin. The town of Berenice Troglo-
dytica was founded by Ptolemy II, about 275 b.c., no doubt
on the site of a much older seaport town, where the products
of India were disembarked and sent across the desert routes
SILWAH AND GEBEL SILSILAH. 717
to large towns on the Nile, or along the desert road which

followed the sea-coast to the cities at the head of the Delta.
In 1905 the Egyptian Government established a station of
the Mining Department, and made the town the headquarters
for the Special Police Corps. Rough roads are being made
between the mining districts and the Nile, and the ancient
wells are being cleared out. The object is to make lines of
communication between the Red Sea and the Nile, for through
these material and food-stuffs and labour can be economically
despatched to the mining centres, and the various districts
kept under effective control. The first well on the Edffi road
to the mines, 12 miles from the Nile, has been reached by
motor-car in forty-five minutes, and the third well, 45*50 miles
from the Nile, in two and a quarter hours by motor-cycle, as
against eleven hours by trotting camel.
The next station on the railway is Silwah, which serves a
town of over 11,225 inhabitants. Nearly opposite to this town,
on the west bank, is Al-Hosh, where there are numerous
quarries, which do not appear to have been worked before
the Roman period. Quite close to Al = Hosh is a small
valley called Shatt ar = Regal. Here, near the river bank,
is a relief containing a figure of one of the Antef kings standing
in the
hept-Ra.
presence of King Menthu-hetep III
The former is styled

(?) ^ J
“Son of the Sun,” and is followed

J
Neb-
by his chancellor, Khati ;

the latter wears the crowns of the
South and North, ,

and is called “King of the South and
“North,” and is followed by the “royal mother,”
Aahet. This scene is usually described as the paying of an

act of homage by Antef
to Menthu-hetep, but this is not
certain was discovered by Mr. Harris, who made a drawing
;
it
of it about 60 years ago.

Hagar (orGebel) Silsilah,54i J miles from Cairo, on the east
and west banks of the river, derives its name probably not from
the Arabic word of like sound meaning “chain,” but from the
Coptic tcholtchel, meaning “ stone wall ” ; the place is usually
called Khenmi in hieroglyphic texts. The ancient Egyptians
here quarried the greater part of the sandstone used by them in
their buildings at Thebes, and the names of the kings inscribed
in the caves here show that these quarries were used from the
earliest to the latest periods. The most extensive of these are
—
7i8 KOM OMBOS.
to be found on the east bank of the river, but on the west bank
we have the little rock-hewn temple of Heru-em-heb, the last
king of the XVIIIth dynasty, conquering the Ethiopians here ;
we have figures of this king, and figures of Seti I, Rameses II

his son, Menephthah, etc. At Silsilah the Nile was worshipped,
and the little temple which Rameses II built in this place seems
to have been dedicated chiefly to it. There are numerous inscrip-
tions in many places in many of the quarries, and these and the
figures they accompany are well worthy of examination for those
who have the time. At Silsilah the Nile narrows very much, and
it was generally thought that a cataract once existed here ; there
is, however, no evidence in support of this view, and the true
channel of the Nile lies on the other side of the mountain.
Kom Ombos, 5 56 J miles from Cairo, on the east bank of
the Nile, was an important place at all periods of Egyptian
history ; it was called by the Egyptians Per-Sebek, “ the
temple of Sebek ” (the crocodile god), and Nubit, and Embo
by the Copts. The oldest object here is a sandstone gateway
which Thothmes III dedicated to the god Sebek. The ruins
of the temple and other buildings at Kom Ombos are among
the most striking in Egypt, but, until the clearance of the
site which M. de Morgan made in 1893-4, it was impos-
sible to get an exact idea of their arrangement. It is pretty
certain that a temple dedicated to some god must have
stood here in the Early Empire, and we know from M.
Maspero’s discoveries here in 1882, that Amenophis I and
Thothmes III, kings of the XVIIIth dynasty, carried out
repairs on the temple which was in existence in their days ;
but at the present time no parts of the buildings at Kom Ombos
are older than the reigns of the Ptolemies. Thanks to the
labours of M. de Morgan, the ruins may be thus classified :
The Mammisi, the Great Temple, and the Chapel of Hathor;

and all these buildings were enclosed within a surrounding wall.
The Mammisi, or small temple wherein the festivals of the
birth of the gods were celebrated, stood in front of the great
temple, to the left ; it consisted of a small courtyard, hall of
columns, and the shrine. It w as built by Ptolemy IX, who is
7
depicted on the walls making offerings to Sebek, Hathor,Thoth,

and other deities. The best relief remaining (see de Morgan,
Ko?n Ombos p. 50) is on the north wall, and represents the king
,
on a fowling expedition through marshes much frequented by

water fowl.
—
The Great Temple. The pylon of the great temple has
;
:
KOM OMBOS. 719
almost entirely disappeared, and only a part of the central pillar

and south half remains. A few of the scenes are in good preserva-
tion, and represent the Emperor Domitian making offerings to
the gods. Passing through the pylon the visitor entered a large
courtyard; on three sides was a colonnade containing 16 pillars,
and in the middle was an altar. The large hall of 10 columns
was next entered, and access was obtained through two doors to
another, but smaller, hall of 10 columns. The shrines of the
gods Sebek and Heru-ur, i.e.,
“ Horus the elder ” (Haroeris),
to whom the temple was dedi-
cated, were approached through
three chambers, each having
two doors, and round the whole
of this section of the building
ran a corridor, which could be
entered through a door on the
left into the second hall of
columns, and a door on the
right in the first chamber be-
yond. At the sides and ends
of the sanctuary are numerous
small chambers, which were
used probably either for the
performance of ceremonies in
connection with the worship of
the gods or by the priests.
The reliefs on the courtyard
represent Tiberius Caesar
making offerings to Heru-ur,
hawk-headed, Sebek, croco-
dile-headed, Osiris Unnefer,
and other gods. The colouring
of the relief in which this Em- Plan of the Temple of Kom Ombos-
peror is seen making an offer-
ing to the lady of Ombos and Khensu (Column IY) is in an
admirable state of preservation. On the facade is an interesting
scene in which the gods Horus and Thoth are represented pour-
ing out the water of life over Ptolemy Neos Dionysos. The reliefs
in the first hall of columns are very fine examples of the decora-
tive work of the period, and worthy of notice are:
—
( West Wall)
The king in the company of Heru-ur, Isis, Nut, and Thoth
the king adoring four mythical monsters, one of vdfich has (out:
720 KOM OMBOS.
lions’ heads. {East Wall ) Harpocrates, seated in the Sun’s

:
disk in a boat, accompanied by Shu, Isis, Nephthys, Maat,

Nut, etc.; the 14 kas or “ doubles” of the king; the king
making offerings to the gods. {Ceiling): The gods of the
stars in boats in the heavens, gods and goddesses, etc. Here
it is interesting to note that certain sections of the ceiling are
divided by lines into squares with the object of assisting the

draughtsman and sculptor, and that the plan of the original
design was changed, for unfinished figures of gods may be seen
on it in quite different positions. In the small hall of columns
are reliefs similar in character to those found in the larger hall.
An examination of the great temple shows that the building
was carried out on a definite plan, and that the decoration of the
walls with reliefs was only begun after the builders had finished
their work. The oldest reliefs and texts belong to the period of
the Ptolemies, and are found in the main buildings, and begin
with the shrines of the gods Sebek and Heru-ur ; the reliefs and
inscriptions of the courtyard belong to the Roman period.
The Chapel of Hathor also belongs to the Roman period,
and seems not to have been completed. Drawings made
in the early part of the nineteenth century show that
the ruins of the temples and other buildings were in a
much better state of preservation than they are at present,
and as the ruin which has fallen upon them since that date
cannot be justly attributed to the natives, it must be due to the
erosion of the bank by the waters of the Nile, which has for
centuries slowly but surely been eating its way into it. The
building which Amenophis I erected there was destroyed by
the encroachment of its waters, and, according to M. de Morgan,
a strip of ground from the front of the temple nearly 20 feet in
width has been swallowed up in the waters during the last
60 years, and with it there probably went the greater part of
the Mammisi. This being so, all lovers of antiquities will
rejoice that a stone platform has been built in front of the
temple to prevent the further destruction of it by the Nile.
Some years ago large portions of the walls of the Temple of
Kom Ombo collapsed, but thanks to the prompt measures
taken by the Government, and the skill of M. Barsanti, the
damage has been made good, and the ruin of the whole
building arrested. The stations on the railway and the
principal villages between Silsilah and Aswan are Daraw, with
:
over 13,515 inhabitants; ADKhattarah, with over 1,000

inhabitants; and AUQazIrah, with 1,250 inhabitants.
721
PART IV.
SECTION. PAGE
I. —Aswan, the Island of Elephantine, and Philae ... 722
II.— Phil® to Wadi Halfah 743
III.—The Egyptian Sudan ... ... 771
IV. — Wadi Halfah Khartum

to ... ... ... 786
V. — Khartum Ruseres on the Blue Nile

to ... ... 839
VI. — Khartum the Great Lakes

to ... ... ... 843
VII. — Kena Kftser on the Red

to andSea, the Wadi
Hammamat .. ... ... ... ... 857
VIII. — Elementary Facts of Arabic Grammar ... ... 861
2 1
;
7 22
I. — ASWAN,* THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE,

AND PHILXE.
ASSUAN (ASWAN). — Cook’s Office, Grand Hotel.

Post and Telegraph Office, north of the Mudiriyah on the bank of
the river.
—
Churches. St. Mark’s (English), close to Cataract Hotel. Roman
Catholic, north of the town. German Protestant, opposite landing
stage.
Excursions to the Island of Elephantine and Rock Tombs ; Philae
and the Nile Dam ;
the Granite Quarries, etc.
Aswan Uswan), with over 12,618 inhabitants (Western

(or
Aswan southern limit of Egypt proper, 587
2,260), the
miles on the east bank of the river, was
from Cairo,
called in Egyptian, Sunt, in Coptic, Souan ; the Greek town
of Syene stood on the slope of a hill to the south-west of
the present town. Properly speaking, Syene was the island
of Elephantine, which the early dynastic Egyptians called Abu,
i.e “elephant,” probably on account of its shape; it formed
.,
V
the metropolis of the first nome of Upper Egypt, "~^T ,
Ta-sti. Under dynasties I-VI it was the frontier town of Egypt

on the south, and was the starting point of all expeditions into
the Sudan. Under the Xllth dynasty the frontier town on the
south was Semnah, in the Second Cataract, and Abu, or Sunt,
lost some
of its importance. At the close of the XXth dynasty
this town became once more the chief southern frontier city,
and continued to be so until the rule of the Ptolemies.
As we approach the time of the Ptolemies, the name Sunnu,
i.e., the town on the east bank of the Nile, from whence
comes the Arabic name Aswan, takes the place of Abu. The
town obtained great notoriety among the Greeks from the
fact that Eratosthenes and Ptolemy considered it to lie on the
Tropic of Cancer, and to be the most northerly point where,
at the time of the summer solstice, the sun’s rays fell vertically
as a matter of fact, however, the town lies o° 37' 23'' north of
the Tropic of Cancer. There was a famous well there, into
which the sun was said to shine at the summer solstice, and to
* The Arabic form adopted by the eminent Arab geographer, Yakut, is
c £
UswAn.
u \^\
UM
:
8'tOOM
r
io
sam i i .
A1JAH !OAW OT HAUSSA M'OJH
'
I -V
cl
-ex
ENVIRONS OF ASWAN. 723
illuminate it in every part. In the time of the Romans three

cohorts were stationed here, and the town was of considerable
importance. In the twelfth century of our era it was the seat
of a bishop. Of its size in ancient days nothing definite can
be said, but Arabic writers describe it as a flourishing town,
and they relate that a plague once swept off 20,000 of its
inhabitants. Aswan was famous for its wine in Ptolemaic

times. The town has suffered greatly at the hands of the
Arabs and Turks on the north, and from the Nubians, by whom
itwas nearly destroyed in the twelfth century, on the south. The
oldest ruins in the town are those of a Ptolemaic temple, which
are still visible.
2 z 2
4
724 THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE.
The Island of Elephantine lies a little to the north

of the cataract, just opposite Aswan, and has been famous in
all ages as the key of Egypt from the south ; the Romans
garrisoned it with numerous troops, and it represented the
southern limit of their empire. The island itself was very
fertile, and it is said that its vines and fig trees retained their
leaves throughout the year. The kings of the Vth dynasty
sprang from Elephantine. The gods worshipped here by the
Egyptians were called Khnemu, Sati, and Anuqet, and on this
islandAmenophis III built a temple, remains of which were
visible in the earlypart of last century. “A little above
u Elephantine the lesser cataract, where the boatmen
is
“ exhibit a sort of spectacle to the governors. The cataract
“ is in the middle of the river, and is formed by a ridge of
44
rocks, the upper part of which is level, and thus capable
“ of receiving the river, but terminating in a precipice, where
44
the water dashes down. On each side towards the land
“ there is a stream, up which is the chief ascent for vessels.
44
The boatmen sail up by this stream, and, dropping down
44
to the cataract, are impelled with the boat to the precipice,
4
the crew and the boats escaping unhurt.” (Strabo, Bk. xvii,
chap, i, 49, Falconer’s translation.) Thus it appears that
44
shooting the cataract ” is a very old amusement.
Of the famous Nilometer which stood here Strabo says:
44
The Nilometer is a well upon the banks of the Nile, con-
44
structed of close-fitting stones, on which are marked the
greatest, least, and mean risings of the Nile ; for the water in
44
44
the well and in the river rises and subsides simultaneously.
44
Upon the wall of the well are lines which indicate the com-
44
plete rise of the river, and other degrees of its rising. Those
44
who examine these marks communicate the result to the public
44
for their information. For it is known long before, by these
44
marks, and by the time elapsed from the commencement, what
44
the future rise of the river will be, and notice is given of it.
44
This information is of service to the husbandmen with refer-
44
ence to the distribution of the water ; for the purpose also of
44
attending to the embankments, canals, and other things of
It is of use also to the governors, who fix the
44
this kind.
44
revenue ; for the greater the rise of the river, the greater it is
44
expected will be the revenue.” According to Plutarch, the
Nile rose at Elephantine to the height of 28 cubits; a very
interesting text at Edffi states that if the river rises 24 cubits
3^ hands at Elephantine it will water the country satisfactorily.

ASWAN. 725
The Nilometer at Elephantine is on the east side of the island,

opposite to the town of Aswan, at the foot of the cataract.
To-day it consists of a single stairway of 52 steps, parallel to
the quay-wall, after which it turns to the east, and opens on the
river through a doorway in the wall. In 1799, besides this
stairway, there was an upper stairway, about 20 metres long,
leading westwards into a small room through which the
Nilometer was reached. All this upper stairway has disappeared
except the bottom seven steps. There are two scales, one the
scale of 1869 divided into piks and kirats, and the marble scale
now in use, which is divided metrically, and numbered to show
the height above mean sea-level. On the west wall are the
remains of two other scales, one Arabic, and one numbered
with Greek numerals ; the latter was used in late Egyptian
times. On the wall of the stairway are the remains of Greek
inscriptions dating from the reigns of several of the Roman
Emperors, and giving the year of the reign, and the height of
the Nile flood. From these it is clear that about a.d. 1 00 the
Nile often rose to 24 and sometimes above 25 cubits on the
Nilometer scale, so that the high floods of that time reached
the level of 91 metres above sea-level. To-day they reach
94 metres as in 1874, or 3 metres above the level of 1900 years
ago, corresponding to a rise of the bed of 0*16 metre per
century at this point. Lyons, Physiography p. 315.
,
In the year 1904 the natives of the Island of Elephantine

discovered a collection of Aramean papyri in one of the
mounds, and two years later Herr Rubensohn began to make
a series of excavations on the same site, on behalf of the
Royal Museum in Berlin. In 1907-8 the work was con-
tinued by Herren Zucker and Honroth. The German
excavations were made in the western half of the island, and
in 1907-8 the eastern half was excavated by Messieurs
Clermont-Ganneau and Cledat. Both sets of excavations
yielded important results, and the objects brought to light
supply much information about the later history of Elephan-
tine, from the XXVIth dynasty downwards. In the ruins of
a portion of the temple of Nectanebus, blocks from a temple
built by a king of the XVIIIth dynasty were found.
A mile or so to the north of the monastery stands the
bold hill in the sides of which are the rock = hewn tombs
which General Sir F. W. (now Field Marshal Lord) Grenfell,
G.C.B., excavated; this hill is situated in Western Aswan,
the Souan en-Pement of the Copts, and is the Contra Syene
;
726 TOMBS AT ASWAN.
of the classical authors. The tombs are hewn out of the

rock, tier above tier, and the most important of these were
reached by a stone staircase, with a sarcophagus slide,
which to this day remains nearly complete, and is one of
the most interesting antiquities in Egypt. At the top of the
staircase are four chambers, two on each side, from which
coffins and mummies were taken out in 1886. The tombs
in this hill may be roughly divided into three groups. The
first group was hewn in the best and thickest layer of
stone in the top of the hill, and was made for the rulers of
Elephantine who lived during the Vlth and Xllth dynasties.
The second group is composed of tombs of different periods
they are hewn out of a lower layer of stone, and are not of so
much importance. The third group, made during the Roman
occupation of Egypt, lies at a comparatively little height above
the river. All these tombs were broken into at a very early
period, and the largest of them formed a common sepulchre for
people of all classes from the XXVIth dynasty downwards.
They were found filled with broken coffins and mummies and
sepulchral stelae, etc., and everything showed how degraded
Egyptian funereal art had become when these bodies were
buried there. The double tomb at the head of the staircase
was made for Sabna and Mekhu the former was a
;
dignitary of high rank who lived during the reign of Pepi II,
a king of the Vlth dynasty, whose prenomen

Nefer-ka-Ra, is inscribed on the left side of the doorway;
the latter was a wealthy smer prince and inspector, who
,
enjoyed great power under Pepi II. The paintings on the

walls and the proto- Doric columns which support the
roof are interesting, and its fine state of preservation and
position make it one of the most valuable monuments of
that early period. Of Mekhu’s career nothing is known, but
from the inscription in the tomb of his son Sabna it is clear
that he died in the Sudan in the performance of some mission.
When the news of his death reached Sabna this pious son set
out with 100 asses laden with honey, oils, sheets of linen, etc.,
for the country of the Blacks. Having reached his destination
he took possession of his father’s body, and put it in a coffin
which he loaded on an ass, and then returned to Aswan. On
his arrival the body of his father was properly embalmed, and
Sabna buried him with the state which the high rank of the
deceased demanded. A little further northward is the small tomb
TOMBS AT ASWAN. 727
of (
A Y, Heqab, and beyond this is the fine, large tomb
hewn originally for Sa = Renput, one of old feudal
the
hereditary governors of Elephantine, but it was appropriated
by Nub = kau = Ra = nekht. He was the governor of the
district of the cataract, and the general who commanded a
lightly-armed body of soldiers called “runners’’; he lived
during the reign of Usertsen I, the second king of the
Xllth dynasty, and his tomb must have been one of the
earliest hewn there during that period. The tomb of Pepi =
nekht (No. 9) is also of considerable importance. This dis-
tinguished man made two raids into the Sudan by the order of
the king, and on each occasion he captured a large number
of men and children who became slaves in Egypt. On another
occasion he was sent against the Aamu, or dwellers in the
Eastern Desert, and inflicted punishment on them because
they had killed an Egyptian officer and his men whilst they
were building a ship which was intended to sail to Punt. No
details of the fight are given, but the facts recorded in the
inscription are interesting because they show that the rule of
the Egyptians was not popular in all parts of the Sfidan.
Another interesting tomb is that of Her = khuf, who was
governor of Elephantine. The inscriptions record that King
Mer-en-Ra sent him with his father to open up a road in the
country of Aam in the Sudan, and that he performed his mission
in seven months. The king next sent him alone, and he passed
through the countries of Arthet, Terres, etc., and brought
back a good load of Sudani produce. This mission occupied
eight months. A
third time he went to Aam, and he joined the
chief of the country in making a raid upon the Libyans ; the
raid was successful, and he came back with 300 asses laden
with myrrh, ebony, oil, grain, leopard skins, ivory, boomerangs,
etc. The chiefs of the countries through which he passed,
seeing how strong his force was, sent him gifts of cattle and
sheep, and on his way home he met the famous warrior Una,
who had been sent up the river by the king with a boatload of
dates, beer, wine, bread, etc., for his needs. Subsequently
Her-khuf went again to Aam, and on his return he sent a
message to the new king Pepi II saying that he had brought
back large quantities of Stidani products, including a tenk
or pygmy. It may be noted in passing that this
word survives in Amharic under the form denk in

—
728 ASWAN.
reply to this message Pepi II sent a letter to Her-khuf, dated

in the second year of his reign a copy of which was cut on the
,
outside of his tomb. In this letter the king acknowledges the

great service which his loyal servant has rendered to him, and
promises to bestow great honours upon the son of his son.
He then orders him to bring the pygmy which he has trans-
ported from the “Land of the Spirits ” to him at Memphis,
that he may dance before the king and rejoice His Majesty’s
heart, and says, “ When he embarketh with thee in the boat,
“thou shalt appoint trustworthy servants to be about him, and
“ on each side of the boat, and take heed that he falleth not
“ into the water. When he sleepeth at night appoint also
“ trustworthy servants who shall sleep by his side in his sleep-
The Tombs at Aswan.

1. Tomb of Mekhu and
Sabna.
2. Stone Staircase.
3. Tomb of Sa -renput.
4. Tomb of Aku.
5. Tomb of Khuua.
6. Tomb of Khunes.
7. Tomb of Her-khu-f.
8. Tomb of Sa-renput-a.
“ ing place, and they shall visit him ten times during the night
“ (/.£., once every hour). For My
Majesty wisheth to see this
“ pygmy more than the tributes of Sinai and Punt. If thou
“ reachest [my] capital and this pygmy shall be with thee, alive,
“ and in good health, and content, My Majesty will do for thee
“ a greater thing than that which was done for the chancellor
“ of the god, Ba-ur-tet, in the time of King Assa, in accordance
“ with the greatness of the heartfelt wish of My
Majesty to see
“ this pygmy.”
The following are the principal tombs at Aswan :
Tomb Mekhu
1. of and Sabna,
^ and
tomb
fWJ aa/wva . In this is an interesting scene of the
• ;
TOMBS AT ASWAN. 729
deceased a boat spearing fish.

in In front of the tomb of
Mekhu a staircase by which sarcophagi were rolled up into
is
the tombs ; down the centre is a flat surface with steps on each
side of it. The staircase was first cleared of sand in 1886, and
in the same year the four chambers near the top were dis-
covered. 2. Tomb of Heq = ab, A *
3. Tomb of
J ^
5a = renput, son of Satet-hetep. (No. 31.)
ZJ AAAAAA
4. Tomb of Aku, * (No. 32.) 5. Tomb of
Khuua, 6. Tomb of Khunes (?). 7. Tomb

of Khennu = sesu, ^^0^— •
8. Tomb of Her-
khu = f, 8 ^ 9. Tomb of Pepi-nekht,
10. Tomb of Sen = mes,

Can];
11. Tomb of Sa = renput = a, This
tomb the finest of all the tombs at Aswan.

is It faces the
north, lies round the bend of the mountain.
and Before it is a
spacious court, which was enclosed by a wall the limestone ;
jambs of the door were ornamented with reliefs and hiero-

glyphics, and were, until recently, still in situ. At the south
end of the court was a portico supported by eight rectangular
pillars. The first chamber contains four pillars, and leads
through a wide corridor to another chamber with two pillars
in this last are two flights of steps which lead to two other
chambers. The walls of the court are without reliefs, but the
pillars of the portico are decorated with figures of the deceased
and with inscriptions on each of their sides. The face of the
tomb is inscribed with a long text in which the deceased tells
how he “filled the heart of the king" (i.e., satisfied him), and
enumerates all the work which he did in Nubia on behalf of his
lord ;
to the left of the doorway is a relief in which Sa-renput
is seen in a boat spearing fish (?), and to the right we have a
representation of ancestor worship. On the wall of the first

chamber inside is a long inscription which fortunately enables
us to date the tomb, for it mentions the prenomen Kheper-ka-Ra
of Usertsen I 7
a king of the Xllth dynasty; else-
73 ° ASWAN.
where are depicted a number of boats, fishing scenes., etc. The

other scenes in the tomb refer to the storage of wheat, jars of
wine, etc. When the writer first cleared this tomb for Sir
Francis Grenfell in 1886, the shrine, containing a figure of
Sa-renput-a, was in situ and was of considerable interest.
,
In the
sand which filled the first chamber almost to the ceiling were
found the bodies of two or three Muhammadans, who appeared
to have been hastily buried there. The shaft, which is entered
from the right side of the second chamber by means of a flight
of steps, was cleared out, and two or more small chambers,
lined and barricaded with unbaked bricks, were entered. In
the floor of one of these an entrance to a further pit was made,
but the air was so foul that candles ceased to burn, and the
work had to be abandoned.
Lower down in the hill are the following tombs : — 1. Tomb of
Sebek = hetep, . 2. Tomb of Khnemu = khenu,
^
3. Tomb of Thetha, 4. Tomb
of Sen, . 5. Tomb of Aba,

In 1902 and 1904 Lady William Cecil excavated a large
number of the tombs which lie to the south of the Grenfell
group, but nothing of importance was found in them. Nearly
every tomb had been used by two occupants at least. For an
account of the work done see Annates du Service tom. iv, ,
p. 51 ff ;
and tom. vi, p. 273-283.
The Monastery of St. Simon, or Simeon. On the
western bank of the Nile, at about the same height as the
southern point of the Island of Elephantine, begins the valley
which leads to the monastery called after the name of Saint
Simon, or Simeon. It is a large, strong building, half monastery,
half fortress, and is said to have been abandoned by the monks
in the thirteenth century, but the statement lacks confirmation ;
architecturally it is of very considerable interest. It was wholly
surrounded by a wall from about 19 to 23 feet high, the lower
part, which was sunk in the rock, being built of stone, and the
upper part of mud brick ; within this wall lay all the monastery
buildings. The monks lived in the north tower, in the upper
storeys, where there were several cells opening out on each side
of a long corridor ; on the ramparts were a number of hiding
places for the watchmen, and there are evidences that the
building was added to from time to time. The church con-
MONASTERY OF ST. SIMON. 73 1
sisted of a choir, two sacristies, and a nave, the whole being

covered with a vaulted roof, which was supported by columns.
In the church are the remains of a fine fresco in the Byzantine
style, which formerly contained the figures of Christ and 24
saints, etc., and also a picture of Christ enthroned. In a small
rock-hewn chapel at the foot of the staircase which leads to the
corridor, the walls are ornamented with figures of our Lord’s
Apostles or Disciples. Every here and there are found inscrip-
tions in Coptic and Arabic. The Coptic texts usually contain
prayers to God that He may show mercy upon their writers,
who regard the visit to the monastery as a meritorious act ; the
oldest Arabic inscription states that a certain Mutammar ‘Ali
visited the monastery in the year a.h. 694, i.e., towards the end
of the thirteenth century of our era. About a fifth of a mile to
the east of the monastery lay the ancient cemetery, which was
cleared out about 27 years ago ; the bodies of the monks had
been embalmed after a fashion, but they fell to pieces when
touched. M. Cledat made excavations here in 1903-4 and
brought to light some 34 Coptic stelae. If the position of
the Copts in Egypt in the thirteenth century be considered,
it will be seen to be extremely unlikely that the monastery
of St. Simon was flourishing at that time, and it is far more
probable that it was deserted many scores of years before.
From Abu Salih, the Armenian, we learn that there were
several churches and monasteries at Aswan. Thus he says
that on the Island of Aswan, i.e., Elephantine, there was
a church in which was laid the body of Abu Hadri, and
near this church was a monastery, which was in ruins in
the days of Abu Salih, with 300 cells for monks. There
were also the churches of Saint Mennas, the Virgin Mary,
and the archangels Gabriel and Michael. The church of
St. Ibsadah stood on the citadel of Aswan, on the bank of the
Nile, and the saint was said to have the power of walking upon
the water. The monastery of Abu Hadri was “ on the mountain
on the west,” and it is probable that the monastery now called
by the name of St. Simon is here referred to. _
The gold mines, which are often referred to by writers on

Aswan, appear to have been situated in the Western desert and
in the Wadi al-b\laki, to the south-east of Aswan, in the country
of the Bisharin ;
these were the mines which were worked by
the Egyptians in the XVIIIth, XIXth, and later dynasties,
and after them by the Romans and Arabs. Modern miners
consider the ancient methods of working them to have been
— ;
n 2 ARAB CEMETERIES.
very wasteful. The clay quarries were situated on the east

bank of the Nile, just opposite to Elephantine Island, and were
famous for red and yellow ochres, and for a fine clay, called
the “clay of art,” which was much used in making jars to hold
Aswan wine. These quarries were worked in dynastic times,
and the stratum of clay was followed by the miners to very
considerable distances into the mountains ; the entrance to the
workings is buried under the sand. Aswan was as famous for
its granite quarries, which lie to the left of the railway in
going to Shellal, as Silsilah was for its sandstone. The Egyptian

kings were in the habit of sending to Aswan for granite to make
sarcophagi, temples, obelisks, etc., and it will be remembered
that Una was sent there to bring back in barges granite for the
use of Pepi I, a king of the Vlth dynasty. It is probable that
the granite slabs which cover the pyramid of Mycerinus (IVth
dynasty) were brought from Aswan. The undetached obelisk,
which still lies in the northern quarry, is an interesting object
in the southern quarry are unfinished colossal statues, &c.
Near the quarries are two ancient Arab cemeteries, in
which are a number of sandstone gravestones, many of them
formed from stones taken from Ptolemaic buildings, inscribed
in Khfi # characters with the names of the Muhammadans
buried there, and the year, month, and day on which they died.
We learn from them that natives of Edfh and other parts of
Egypt were sometimes brought here and buried. The following
translations will illustrate the contents of these interesting
monuments :
“ In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. This

I.
“ is a sufficient announcement for men and (it is revealed) that they
;
“ may be warned thereby, and that they may know that He is one
“ God, and that the discreet may remember. O God, bless Muhammad
“ the Prophet and his family and save (them), and have mercy upon
“ Thy servant that hath need of Thy mercy, Ja’far, son of Ahmad,
‘All, son of Muhammad, son of Kasim, son of Abd as-Samad.
‘
‘
son of ‘
“ He died on Thursday, when six days (nights) were past (the 6th)
“ of al-Muharram, in the year 418 (A. D. 1027). May the mercy of
“ God be upon him and His favour.”
II. “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
“ Verily those who say, Our Lord is God and then walk uprightly,
‘
*
* A kind of Arabic writing in which very old copies of the Kur’an, etc.,
are written; it takes its name from Kufah, Al-Kufah a town on

,
the Euphrates. Kufah was one of the chief cities of ‘Irak, and is famous
in the Muhammadan world because Muhammad and his immediate
successors dwelt there. Enoch lived here, the Ark was built here, the
boiling waters of the Flood first burst out here, and Abraham had a place
of prayer set apart here.
THE FIRST CATARACT. 733
44
upon them shall the angels descend (saying), 4 Fear ye not, neither
“be ye sad, but rejoice ye in the Paradise which ye have been
41
44
promised.’ OGod, bless Muhammad
the Prophet and his family
the pure and save (them). There died Ibrahim, son of Al-Husain,
“ son of Ishak, son of Ya’kub, son of Ishak, on Saturday, when
“ eight (nights) remained (the 2ist) of the latter Rabi in the year 4
,
4
420 (A.D. 1029).”
‘
III. “ In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“ Hasten unto forgiveness from your Lord and a Paradise the width
44
whereof is (as) the heavens and the earth, which is prepared for the
44
Godfearing. Blessed be He Who, if He pleased, could give thee
44
better than that, (to wit) gardens beneath which flow streams, and
44
could give thee palaces. O God, bless Muhammad the Prophet and
44
his family and save (them), and have mercy on Thy servant that
44
hath need of Thy mercy, Isma il, son of Al-Husain, son of Ishak,
4
“ son of Ya‘kub, son of Ishak. He died on Monday, when twenty

44
and three (nights) were passed (on the 23rd) of Rajab, in the year
44
431 (A.D. 1040). The mercy of God be upon him, and His for-
44
giveness, and His favour be upon him.”
Aswan and Shellal are numbers of
In the desert between
inscriptions to which numbers were affixed by M. de Morgan •
here also are the remains of an ancient massive brick wall,

built to protect the villages on the cataract.
The First Cataract, called Shellal by the Arabs, begins a
little to the south of Aswan, and ends a little to the north
of the Island of Philse six great cataracts are found on the

;
Nile, but this is the most generally known. Here the Nile
becomes narrow and flows between two mountains, which
descend nearly perpendicularly to the river, the course of which
is obstructed by huge boulders and small rocky islands and
barriers, which stand on different levels, and cause the falls of
water which have given this part of the river it's name. On the
west side the obstacles are not so numerous as on the east, and
sailing and rowing boats can ascend the cataract on this side
when the river is high. The noise made by the water is at
times very great, but it has been greatly exaggerated by both
ancient and modern travellers, some of whom ventured to assert
that the “water fell from several places in the mountain more
“ than 200 feet.” Some ancient writers asserted that the
fountains of the Nile were in this cataract, and Herodotus*
reports that an official of the treasury of Neith at Sais stated
that the source of the Nile was here. Many of the rocks here
are inscribed with the names of kings who reigned during the
Middle Empire ;
in many places on the little islands in the
cataract quarries were worked. The island of Sahal should be
*
Bk. ii, chap. 28.
734 STELE OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ FAMINE.
visited on account of the numerous inscriptions left there by

princes, generals, and others who passed by on their way ‘to
Nubia. On February 6th, 889, Mr. Wilbour was fortunate
1
enough to discover on the south-eastern part of this island a

most important stele consisting of a rounded block of granite,
eight or nine feet high, which stands clear above the water, and
in full view from the river looking towards Philae. Upon it are
inscribed 32 lines of hieroglyphics which form a remarkable
document, and contain some valuable information bearing upon
a famous seven years’ famine. The inscription is dated in the
eighteenth year of a king whose name is read by Dr. Brugsch
as Tcheser, who reigned early in the Illrd dynasty ; but internal
evidence proves beyond a doubt that the narrative contained
therein is a redaction of an old story, and that it is, in its present
form, not older than the time of the Ptolemies. In the second
line we are told :
—
“ By misfortune the very greatest not had
“ come forth the Nile during a period lasting years seven.
“ Scarce [was] grain, lacking [was] vegetable food, [there was
“ a] dearth of everything [which men] ate.” In this time of
distress the king despatched a messenger to Matar, the governor
of Elephantine, informing him of the terrible state of want and
misery which the country was in, and asking him to give him
information about the source of the Nile, and about the god
or goddess who presided over it, and promising to worship this
deity henceforth if he would make the harvests full as of yore.
Matar informed the messenger concerning these things, and
when the king had heard his words he at once ordered rich
sacrifices to be made to Khnemu, the god of Elephantine, and
decreed that tithes of every product of the land should be paid
to his temple. This done the famine came to an end and the
Nile rose again to its accustomed height. There can be no
connection between this seven years’ famine and that recorded
in the Bible, for it must have happened some 2,000 years
before Joseph could have been in Egypt; but this remarkable
inscription proves that from time immemorial the people of Egypt
have suffered from periodic famines. The village of Mahatah,
on the east bank of the river, is prettily situated, and worth a
visit.
For an account of the Aswan Dam, see above, p. 98 ff.
Until the last few years the railway which joined the two ends
of the First Cataract had its summer terminus at the little
village of Shellal, where dwelt 100 or 200 people, chiefly
Nubians ; besides these there was a small European population,
ISLAND OF PHIL/E. 735
consisting of Greeks and others, who were employed in working

7
the railway and in connection with the steamers traffic between
Shellal and Wadi Halfah. The village flourished during the
winter season when tourists were numerous, and during the
great expeditions to the Sudan. When, however, the Aswan
Dam was finished, and the process of holding up the water
began, Shellal was drowned, and its site lies several feet below
the surface of the vast lake which begins at the dam and ends
beyond Korosko.
The Island of Philae.
Philae is the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the
two islands which are situated at the head of the First Cataract,
about six miles south of Aswan ; the larger island is called
Bigah, the Senemet of the Egyptian texts, and the name
Philae now generally refers to the smaller island, on which
stands the group of ancient buildings of the Ptolemaic and
Roman periods. The name Philae is derived from the Egyptian
77
words P-a-lek, i.e., “the Island of Lek ; from these words the
Copts formed the name Pilakh, and the Arabs the name Bilak.
A well-known name for Philse in the inscriptions is “ the city of
77 77
Isis, and one text speaks of it as the “interior of heaven ;
that it was held to be a most holy site is evident from its titles',
Auset abt and P-a-ab, i.e., “ Holy House 77
and “ Holy Island 77
respectively. Of the history of the Island of Philae during the

Early and Middle Empires nothing is known ; only it is certain
that the Egyptians made use of it for military purposes in very
early times. Whether they built forts upon it cannot be said,
but the site was an excellent one for a garrison. Judging by
analogy, shrines to local gods or temples must have stood upon
one or both of the islands, for it is impossible to imagine that
such a well-protected and picturesque spot for a temple
or temples should have remained unoccupied. The early
travellers in Egypt declare that slabs of granite and sandstone
inscribed with the names of Amenophis II, Amenophis III,
and Thothmes III, were visible on this island, as well as on
that of Bigah ; but it is certain that nothing of the kind
remains there now. The island is 1,418 feet long, i.e., from
north to south, and 464 feet wide, i.e., from east to west, and
is formed by a mass of crystalline rock, mainly hornblendic
granite, on which Nile mud has been deposited. The main

portion of the Temple of Isis is founded on the solid rock of
the island, while the other buildings have foundations usually
73 6 ISLAND OF PHIL JE.
ISLAND OF PHIL.#:. 737
from 4 to 6 metres in depth, which rest on Nile mud ; a portion

of one of the buildings rests upon an artificial quay made of
stone. The oldest portion of a building on the island are the
remains of a small edifice which was set up at the southern end
of it by Nectanebus II, the last native king of Egypt (358-340
b.c.). Of the other buildings, all the temples date from the
Ptolemaic period, and were the works of the Ptolemies and
of one or two Nubian kings. Under the Roman Emperors
a few of the existing buildings were enlarged, and a few
architectural works of an ornamental character were added.
An ancient tradition made Philae to be one of the burial
places of Osiris, and an oath sworn by Osiris of Philae was in-
violable ; the very earth of the island was considered to be holy,
and only those who were priests, or were employed in the
temples, were allowed to live there.
In early times the gods of the cataract were the gods of
Philae, i.e ., Khnemu and Satet, Khnemu-Ra and Hathor,
Anuqet, Ptah, and Sekhet, etc. ; but in Greek and Roman times
the deities chiefly worshipped in the island were Isis and Osiris,
and the gods who were in their train, i.e., Horus, Nephthys, etc.
In connection with the worship of Isis and Osiris a number of
ceremonies were performed, in which the death and mutilation
of the body of Osiris, the gathering together of his scattered
limbs, the reconstruction of the body by Isis, and its revivifica-
tion by means of the words of power which Thoth had taught
her formed very prominent scenes. Together with such
ceremonies, a number of others connected with the worship of
Osiris as the god of life and fecundity were also celebrated at
Philae, something after the manner of a miracle play, and there
is no doubt that great crowds would be drawn to the spot by
such performances. Primarily, such ceremonies would most

appeal to the Egyptians, who, seeing that the great, and
probably original, shrine of Osiris at Abydos had fallen into
decay, endeavoured to make Philae its successor; but in
Ptolemaic times and later the Greeks and Romans flocked to
the spot, the former to worship Osiris, and the latter to worship
Isis. In the early centuries of the Christian era human
sacrifices were offered to the Sun at Philae.
The form of Osiris which the Greeks revered was Sarapis,
i.e., Asar-Hapi, “ Osiris-Apis,” to whom they ascribed all the
attributes of the Greek god Hades. The Egyptian priests, of

course, approved of the introduction of the god into the
national collection of gods as long as it could be effected by
3 a
73 8 ISLAND OF PHILÊ.
identifying him with an ancient god of the country, and thus

the Egyptian and Greek priests found a deity who could
satisfy the religious aspirations of both peoples. The introduc-
tion of the god was made Ptolemy Soter ; but in
in the reign of
a few generations the attributes of Hades were forgotten, and
the worship of Sarapis became identical with that of Osiris. This
having been brought about, and Philae being recognized as one
of the most holy shrines of the god, the palmy days of the
island began, and so long as the Ptolemies could keep the
tribes quiet on the south and west of Egypt all went well, and
the shrine became very rich.
In 22 B.C., Candace seized Philae, Aswan, and Elephantine,
but her forces were attacked by the Romans, who defeated her
and scattered her army. She was probably the Meroitic queen
who built the temple at ‘Amarah, a little above Koshah. In
A.D. 250 the Blemmyes followed her example, and they
raided Upper Egypt so far north as Thebes. In the reign of
Diocletian (A.D. 284 = 305) the Blemmyes invaded the neigh-
bourhood so frequently that this Emperor came to terms with
them, and eventually ceded Nubia to them on the understand-
ing that they allowed no inroads upon Egypt from the south.
In fact the Blemmyes on the east and the Nobadae on the west
were kept quiet by the payment of an annual subsidy. Mean-
while Christianity had spread in Egypt, and was making its
way into Nubia, but the worship of Osiris and Isis was con-
tinued at Philae, apparently without much interruption. In
A.D. 38 o Theodosius the Great issued the edict for establish-
ing the worship of the Trinity, and a year later he prohibited
sacrifices, and ordered some of the temples to be turned into
Christian churches, and the rest to be shut ; but in spite of
everything, sacrifices were offered at Philae, and the worship
of Osiris was carried on there, just as was the worship of the
gods of Greece and Rome in Italy and elsewhere, until quite
the reign of Justinian, who ascended the throne A.D. 527.
Nubia was converted to Christianity about a.d. 540, and a few
years later the Emperor Justinian sent the Pers- Armenian
Narses to Philae with authority to destroy the worship of Osiris
and Isis. When Narses arrived he removed the statues of the
gods from the great temple of Isis and sent them to Constanti-
nople ; their subsequent fate is unknown. He then closed the
temple, and threw all the priests into prison, and, of course,
confiscated all the revenues on behalf of his master. The
custom of sacrificing human beings to the Sun-god was
ISLAND OF PHIL/E. 739
abolished, and Christians entered Nubia from the Thebaid

in large numbers. A
local Nubian king called Silko was
sufficiently strong to seize the whole country from the First
to the Fourth Cataract, and he founded the Christian Nubian
kingdom, making Donkola his capital. In Christian times
the Copts built at Philae one church in honour of Saint
Michael and another in honour of Saint Athanasius, and
recent excavations have shown that many small churches
were built there. From a Coptic inscription discovered by
M. Barsanti in 1902, and now in the museum at Cairo, we
know that a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary
existed at Philae in the first half of the VUIth century, and
it tells us that in the 439th year of the Era of the Martyrs
(a.d. 723), a certain Joseph, son of Dioscurus, placed an
altar in the sanctuary. Abu
Salih says that there are “many
idols and temples ” on the island, and that on the west bank
of the river there were several churches overlooking the
cataract, but adds that they were in ruins in his day.
When Strabo visited Philae he says that he came from Syene
(Aswan) in a wagon, through a very flat country. “ Along the
“ whole road on each side we could see, in many places, very
“ high rocks, round, very smooth, and nearly spherical, of
“ hard black stone, of which mortars are made each rested
;
“ upon a greater stone, and upon this another they were like
;
“ unhewn stones, with heads of Mercury upon them. Some-
“ times these stones consisted of one mass. The largest was
not less than 12 feet in diameter, and all of them exceeded
“ this size by one-half. We crossed over to the island in a
“ pacton, which is a small boat made of rods, whence it
“ resembles woven-work. Standing there in the water (at the
“ bottom of the boat), or sitting upon some little planks, we
“ easily crossed over, with some alarm, indeed, but without
“ good cause for it, as there is no danger if the boat is not
“ overturned.” Of Philae itself he says “ A little above the
:
“ cataract is Philae, a common settlement, like Elephantina, of

“ Ethiopians and Egyptians, and equal in size, containing
“ Egyptian temples, where a bird, which they call hierax (the
“ hawk), is worshipped
;
but it did not appear to me to resemble
“ in the least the hawks of our country nor of Egypt, for it
“ was larger, and very different in the marks of its plumage.
“ They said that the bird was Ethiopian, and is brought
" from
Ethiopia when its predecessor dies, or before its
“ death. The one shown to us when we were there was
3 a 2
—
740 TEMPLES OF PHILvE.
“ sick and nearly dead.” (Strabo, xvii, 1-49, Falconer’s

translation.)
In 1893 the project for a dam and reservoir at Aswan was
submitted to the Government of Egypt, and in order to
obtain an accurate idea of the stability of the temples, etc.,
Sir W. Garstin, K.C.M.G,, caused an exhaustive examination
of the island to be made by Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., whose
labours prove that, contrary to the general practice of the
ancient Egyptian architects, the foundations of all the main
buildings go down to the bed-rock, and that consequently
there is nearly as great a depth of masonry below the ground
as there is above it. In the course of his excavations Captain
Lyons discovered a trilingual inscription in hieroglyphics, Greek,
and Latin, recording the suppression of a revolt mentioned in
Strabo (xvii, i, § 53) by Cornelius Gallus, the first prefect of
the country in the reign of Augustus Caesar. The principal
buildings of intereston the island are :
1. The Temple of Nectanebus II, the last native king

of Egypt, which was dedicated to Isis, the lady of Philae ; it
contained 14 columns with double capitals, but few of them
now remain. The columns were joined by stone walls, on
which were reliefs, in which Nectanebus is depicted making
offerings to the gods of Philae. The southern part of the
temple either fell into the river, or was removed when the
quay wail was built across the south end of the island, cutting
off the remainder of the court, and leaving only the front
portion to mark the place of the original temple. The
present building rests on a course of blocks which formed
part of an earlier wall, and the cartouches prove that it was
repaired by Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
2. The Temple of Ari = hes = nefer, . — Ari-
hes-nefer was the son of Ra and Bast, and this temple was
dedicated to him by Ptolemy IV ; it was restored or repaired
by Ptolemy V, the Nubian king Ergamenes, and the Emperor
Tiberius, all of whom are represented in the reliefs on the
walls. The present building stands upon the site of an older
temple, and part of it was turned into a church by the Copts ;
a number of the stone blocks from its walls were used in the
building of some Coptic houses which stood near.
3. The Temple of I=em = hetep, which was finished in the
reign of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes. In later times, when the east
colonnade was built against it, a forecourt was added, with a
TEMPLES OF PHILÊ. 741
narrow chamber on the east side of it ;

and in still later times
the Copts lived in some portions of it.
4. The Temple of Hathor, which was dedicated to this

goddess by Ptolemy VII, Philometor and Ptolemy IX,
Euergetes II. The forecourt was added in Roman times, and
it contained columns with Hathor-headed capitals. The Copts
destroyed the forecourt and built a church of the stones of
which it was made. On the south side are the ruins of houses
which were built before the temple was destroyed. Over the
door of the one remaining room of the temple is a dedicatory
inscription of Ptolemy IX in Greek.
5. The Gateway of Hadrian. This gateway stands on a
portion of the enclosing wall of the Temple of Isis, on the
western side, and was connected with the temple by two
parallel walls, which were added at a later time. On the lintels
are reliefs in which the Emperor Hadrian is depicted standing
before a number of the gods of Philae, and inside the gateway
is a scene representing Marcus Aurelius, who must have
repaired the gateway, making offerings to Isis and Osiris.
6. The Temple of Caesar Augustus, which was built
about a.d. 12, and is thought to have been destroyed by an
earthquake in Coptic times. In the centre of the paved court
in front of it were found in the north-west and south-west
corners the two halves of a stele which was inscribed in
hieroglyphics and in Greek and Latin, with the record of a
revolt against the Romans, which was suppressed by Cornelius
Gallus about 22 b.c. The temple was built of sandstone, with
granite columns and pedestals, and diorite capitals, and was
dedicated to the Emperor by the people of Philae and of that
part of Nubia which was under the rule of the Romans.
7. The Temple of Isis. The buildings of this edifice
consist of: — (1) A pylon, decorated with the reliefs of Nec-
tanebus Ptolemy VII, Ptolemy IX, and Ptolemy XII, Neos
II,
Dionysos ;
Mammisi and a colonnade,
(2) a court, containing the
and decorated with the reliefs of Ptolemy IX, Ptolemy XIII,
and of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius (3) a second ;
pylon, ornamented with reliefs by Ptolemy IX and Ptolemy XIII

(at the foot of the right tower a portion of granite bed-rock
projects,and the inscription upon it records the dedication of
certain lands to the temple by Ptolemy VII); (4) a temple,
which consists of the usual court, hypostyle hall, and shrine.
In the various parts of this temple are the names of Ptolemy II,
Ptolemy III, Ptolemy IX, and the Emperor Antoninus. Of
742 TEMPLES OF PHILÊ.
special interest is the Osiris Chamber, wherein are reliefs
referring to ceremonies which were connected with the death

and resurrection of Osiris. The texts on the outside of this
group of buildings mention the names of the Emperors Tiberius
and Augustus.
8. The Temple of Heru = Netch = tef =f, which consisted
of a court, having four columns on the eastern face, and a
large chamber in which stood the shrine, with a narrow passage
running round it. It was built on a part of the old surrounding
wall of the Temple of Isis, and the greater number of its stones
were removed by the Copts, who built a church with them.
0. The Nilometer. The doorway leading to the Nilometer
is in the old surrounding wall of the temple, and the hinge and
the jamb can still be seen. Three scales are cut in the walls,
two on the north wall, and one on the south ; the oldest is
probably the vertical line chiselled on the face of the north
wall, and showing whole cubits only, which are marked by
horizontal lines. The average length of the cubit in each
portion of the scale except the second is about *520 metre. In
the second scale on the north wall the cubit is divided into
7 palms, and each palm into 4 digits two of the cubits are
;
marked by demotic numerals. The third scale, which is on

the south wall, is in a perfect state of preservation the mean ;
length of the 17 cubits marked is *535 metre. Over the

46
16th cubit is cut the sign ,
ankh ,
i.e . 9 life.^ This sign
probably indicates that when the waters of the inundation rose

to the height marked by it, there would be abundance and
prosperity in the land. The river level of the tops of scales
Nos. i, 2, and 3 is 99*654, 99*890,metres and 99*990
respectively, and the river level of the present time
99*200 is
metres ; therefore Captain Lyons, who made these measure-

ments, concludes that there is very little difference between
the flood level of to-day and that of about 2,000 years ago.
10. The “ Kiosk,” which is one of the most graceful
objects on the island, and that by which Philae is often best
remembered the building appears to be unfinished. Its date
;
is, perhaps, indicated by the reliefs in which the Emperor

Trajan is depicted making offerings to Isis and Horus, and
standing in the presence of Isis and Osiris.
743
II. — PHIL/E TO WADI HALFAH.

The country which is entered on leaving Philse is generally
known by name of Nubia
the the latter name has been
;
derived by some from nub the Egyptian word for gold, because
,
in ancient days much gold was brought into Egypt from that land.
In the hieroglyphics Nubia and Ethiopia are generally called
Kesh (the Cush of the Bible), and
Ta-Sti ;
from the old name “ Kenset ” the Arabic Al-Kenfis is
derived. The Egyptian King Seneferu, about 3800 b.c., raided
the Shdan and brought back 7,000 slaves, and it is known that
under the Vlth dynasty the Egyptians sent to this country for
certain kinds of wood. All the chief tribes that lived round
about Korosko hastened to help the Egyptian officer Una in
the mission which he undertook for King Pepi I. It seems
pretty certain too, if we may trust Una’s words, that the whole
country was made to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Egyptian
king. Her-khuf, an Egyptian officer and native of Elephantine,
made several journeys to the Southern Sudan, and brought
back gold and slaves for King Pepi II. From the Vllth to
the Xlth dynasty nothing is known of the relations which
existed between the two countries, but in the time of Usertsen I,
the second king of the Xllth dynasty, an expedition was under-
taken by the Egyptians for the purpose of fixing the boundaries
of the two countries, and we know from a stele set up at
Wadi Halfah by this king that his rule extended as far south
as this place. Two reigns later the inhabitants of Nubia or
Ethiopia had become so troublesome that Usertsen III found
it necessary to build fortresses at Semnah and Kummah, south
of the Second Cataract, and to make stringent laws forbidding

the passage north of any negro ship or company of men
without permission.
The Hyksos kings appear not to have troubled greatly about
Nubia. When the XVIIIth dynasty had obtained full power
in Egypt, some of its greatest kings, such as Thothmes III and
Amenhetep III, marched into Nubia and built temples there ;
under the rulers of this dynasty the country became to
all intents and purposes a part of Egypt. Subsequently the
Nubians appear to have acquired considerable power, and as
Egypt became involved in conflicts with more northern
countries, this power increased until Nubia, about 720 b.c., was
able to declare itself independent under Piankhi. For nearly
744 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NUBIA.
2,000 years the Nubians had had the benefit of Egyptian civili-
zation, and all that it could teach them, and they were soon
able to organize hostile expeditions into Egypt with success.
A second Nubian kingdom rose under Tirhakah, who conquered
all Egypt and occupied Memphis. The capital of both these
Nubian kingdoms was Napata, opposite Gebel Barkal. About
two centuries before the birth of Christ the centre of the
Nubian kingdom was transferred to the Island of Meroe, and
this upper kingdom of Nubia lasted until the rise of the
Graeco-Ethiopian kingdom, which had its capital at Axum.
—
The Archaeological Survey of Nubia. In September,
1906, the survey of that portion of Nubia which will be sub-
merged when the Aswan Reservoir is raised to the level of
1 r 3 metres above sea level, was begun under the direction of
Captain H. G. Lyons. The archaeological work was under-

taken by Messrs. Reisner, Firth, and Blackman, and the anthro-
pological section by Messrs. Elliot Smith and Wood Jones.
As the result of the examination of eleven cemeteries it was
concluded that “ here on the borders of Egypt and Nubia the
“ course of development was much the same both in character
“and in time as in Egypt in passing from the primitive pre-
“ dynastic period through the effective copper period of the first
“ four dynasties to the New Empire. There is, however, a type
“ of pottery and of beads which appears to be characteristic of
“ Nubia.” In 1907-8 cemeteries, etc., at Khor Ambukol,
Dembid, Dabod, Madi al-Kadi, Kolodul, Wadi Kamar, Khor
Menab, Khor Bir-Amran, Seali, Demhid, Kartassi, Metadul,
etc.,were excavated. And the investigators decided that
between the Aswan Dam and Kalabshah there was a series of
cemeteries presenting a homogeneous material covering the
whole period from the earliest predynastic times to the present
day. From the earliest predynastic times down to the early
dynastic, the whole district was characteristically Egyptian in
culture, and the race which occupied the district in that period
was pure Egyptian. During the early dynastic period and the
Old Empire, the population seems to have been isolated from
Egyptian influence, and became mixed with Negroid elements.
Under the New Empire the country was again completely
under the influence of Egyptian culture, and except for slight
interruptions, remained under that influence until the Christian
Period. Cemeteries were next cleared at Gennari, Aqabaten,
Nogi-Koleh, Khor Bazil, Haggi Musa-kole, Dendur, Mettardul,
Wadi Abyad, Abfi Regab, Dughesh, Khor Nugdy, Farragullah,
;
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NUBtA. 745
Sherfadittogog, Gedekol, Shellubbatha, Medik, etc. The

results showed that dated gravesof the XVIth and XVIIth
dynasties appear for the first time at Gennari, a fact which
is explained by the actual movements of population during the
Hyksos period as a result of political conditions in Egypt.

Whilst the Hyksos were masters of Egypt many Egyptians
fled thither for refuge, and they married Nubian women
and died there. The military occupation of Nubia by the
Egyptians under the XVIIIth dynasty may possibly account
for the presence of many Egyptians in Nubian graves. It was
further concluded that “the present population of Nubia is
“ Egyptian, modified in physical type and moral qualities by
“forty centuries of dilution with Negro blood.'’ In 1909 the
Survey examined more cemeteries at Kushtamna, Sabagura,
Aman Daiid, Dakkab, etc., and in 1910 further work was
done. Detailed accounts of the objects found in the
cemeteries during the course of these exhaustive labours
are given with drawings, photographs, etc., in the Bulletins of
the Archaeological Survey of Nubia (published by the
Egyptian Government), of which six have already appeared.
The anthropological material has not been fully worked out yet,
but the examination of the bones is going on, and all must hope
that when the craniological experts have agreed among them-
selves what conclusions may be rightly drawn from the human
remains found in Nubia, they will publish them without delay.
The Restoration of the Temples of Nubia. Very —
shortly after the raising of the Aswan Dam was contemplated,
Professor Maspero called the attention of the Egyptian
Government to the effect which the higher level of the water
in the great Reservoir might have on the temples which were
within its reach. In 1904 he visited all the temples in Nubia
and found that the effect of the dam was felt as far as Derr
when the dam was raised he felt certain that even Abu Simbel
would be affected. He examined all the temple sites between
Abfi Simbel and Aswan, and drew up a scheme for the repair,
or restoration, of each temple, and made an estimate of the
probable cost. He came to the conclusion that the temples
were in urgent need of repairs, if they were to be prevented
from falling down, and estimated that the works absolutely
necessary on the temples of Abh Simbel, Derr, ‘Amadah,
Wadi SabiPah, Miharrakah, Dakkah, Garf Husen, Dendfir
Kalabshah and Bet al-Wali, Wadi Tafah, Kartassi and
Dabud would cost Ê, 19,630. Other works at Kurtah (Korti),
746 dAb^D.
Kubban, Kushtamnah, and Kirshah

would costa further sum of Ê. 1,050,
and if the temples between Abu Simbel
and Wadi Halfah were included, the
total cost of the whole work would be
Ê. 30,000. The Egyptian Govern-
ment accepted Professor Maspero’s
report, and M. Alexander Barsanti was
appointed to carry into effect its recom-
mendations. The work was begun in
1907 and was carried on steadily year
by year until it was completed. Many
important additions to our knowledge of
the Nubian temples have been made by
the labours of M. Barsanti, especially
in the case of the great temple at Abu
Simbel. Full details of the works
executed on each temple have been
published by Professor Maspero in his
Les Temples Immerges de la Nubie ,
Cairo, 1909-10.
After leaving Philae, the first place
of interest passed is Dabud, on the
west bank of the river, 599^ miles from
Cairo. At this place, called Ta-het in
the inscriptions, are the ruins of a
temple founded by Atcha-khar-Amen, a
king of Ethiopia who may have reigned
about the middle of the third century
b.c. The names of Ptolemy VII, Philo-
metor, and Ptolemy IX, Euergetes II,
are found engraved upon parts of the
building. DaMd probably stands on
the of the ancient Parembole, a
site
fort or castleon the borders of Egypt
and Ethiopia, and attached alternately
to each kingdom. During the reign of
Diocletian it was ceded to the Nubse
by the Romans, and it was frequently
attacked by the Blemmyes from the
east bank of the river. At Kartassi,
Plan of the Temple of on the west bank of the river, 615
Dab ad. miles from Cairo, are the ruins of
wad! tafah and kalabshah. 747
a temple and large quarries, from which the stone for

building the temples at Philae was obtained ; seven miles further
south, on the west bank of the river, is Wadi Tafah, the
ancient Taphis, where there are also some ruins ; they are,
however, of little interest. Contra-Taphis lay on the east bank.
Kalabshah, ,
on the west bank of the river, 629 miles
from Cairo, stands on the site of the classical Talmis, called in
hieroglyphics Thermeset, and Ka-hefennu ; it was for a long
time the capital of the country of the Blemmyes, i.e ., the
tribes which lived in the
Eastern Desert ; they are
called “ Beja ” or “ Be-
ga ” by Arab writers,
and among their des-
cendants the Bish-
are
arin, numbers of whom
are seen near Aswan. It
stands immediately on
the Tropic of Cancer.
The god of this town was
called Merul or Melul,
the Mandulis or Ma-
lulis of the Greeks. At
Kalabshah there are the
ruins of two temples of
considerable interest.
I he larger of these, Plan of the Temple of Tafah.
which is one of the
largest temples in Nubia, appears to have been built upon the
site of an ancient Egyptian temple founded by Thothmes III,
1550 and Amenophis II, 1500 b.c., for on the pronaos this
b.c.,
latter monarch is represented offering to the god Menu and
the Ethiopian god Merul or Melul. It seems to have been
restored in Ptolemaic times, and to have been considerably
added to by several of the Roman Emperors Augustus, —
Caligula, Trajan, etc. From the appearance of the ruins it
would seem that the building was wrecked either immediately

before or soon after it was completed some of the chambers
;
were plastered over and used for chapels by the early Christians.
A large number of Greek and Latin inscriptions have been
found engraved on the walls of this temple, and from one of
them we learn that the Blemmyes were defeated by Silko, king
;
74§ bet-al-wal!.
of the Nubae and Ethiopians, in the latter half of the sixth

century of our era.
At Bet = al = Wall, i.e., the “house of the Saint, a short 5
’
distance from the larger temple, is the interesting rock-hewn

temple which was made to commemorate the victories of
Rameses II over the Syrians, Libyans, and Ethiopians. On
the walls of the court
leading into the small
hall are some beautifully
executed sculptures, rep-
resenting the Ethiopians,
after their defeat, bring-
ing before the king large
quantities of articles of
value, together with gifts
of wild and tame ani-
mals. Many of the
objects depicted must
have come from a con-
siderable distance, and
it isevident that in those
early times Talmis was
the great central market
to which the products
and wares of the Sudan
were brought for sale and
barter. The sculptures
are executed with great
freedom and spirit, and
when the colours upon
them were fresh they
must have formed one of
the most striking sights
in Nubia. Some years
ago casts of these interesting sculptures were taken by Mr. Bonomi,
at the expense of Mr. Hay, and notes on the colours were made
these two casts, painted according to Mr. Bonomi’s notes, are
now set up on the walls in the Fourth Egyptian Room in the
British Museum (Northern Gallery), and are the only evidences
extant of the former beauty of this little rock-hewn temple, for
nearly every trace of colour has vanished from the walls. The
scenes on the battlefield are of great interest.
Between Kalabshah and Dendur, on the west bank of the
DAKKAH. 749
river, 642 miles from Cairo, there is nothing of interest to be

seen ;
at Dendur are the remains of a temple built by Augustus,
where this Emperor is shown making offerings to Amen, Osiris,
Isis, and Sati. Between
Dendilr and Garf Husen
is the temple of Kir=
shah. At Garf Hus£n,
on the west bank of the
river, 651 miles from
Cairo, are the remains of
a rock-hewn temple
built by Rameses II in
honour of Ptah, Sekhet,
Ta-Tenen, Hathor, and
Aneq ; the work is poor
and of little interest.
This village marks the
site of the ancient Tutzis.
Dakkah, on the west
bank of the river, 6627?
miles from Cairo, marks
the site of the classical
Pselcis, the P-selket of
the hieroglyphics. About
23 b.c. the Ethiopians
attacked the Roman
garrisons at Philse and
Syene and, having de-
feated them, overran
Upper Egypt. Petronius,
the successor of yElius
Gallus, marching with
less than 10,000 infantry Plan of Bet-al- Walk
and 800 horse against the rebel army of 30,000 men, compelled
them to retreat to Pselcis, which he afterwards besieged and took.
“ Part of the insurgents were driven into the city, others fled
“ into the uninhabited country and such as ventured upon
;
“ the passage of the river escaped to a neighbouring island,
“ where there were not many crocodiles on account of
“ the current. Among the fugitives were the generals of
“ Candace,* queen of the Ethiopians in our time, a masculine
“ woman, and who had lost an eye. Petronius, pursuing them
* Candace was a title borne by all the queens of Meroe.

75Q TEMPLE OF DAKKAH.
“ in rafts and ships, took them all and despatched them imme-
“ diately to Alexandria.” (Strabo, xvii, i, 54.) From Pselcis
Petronius advanced to Premnis (Ibrim), and afterwards to
Napata, the royal seat of Candace, which he razed to the
ground. As long as the Romans held Ethiopia, Pselcis was
a garrison town. The temple at Dakkah was built by “ Arq-
“ Amen, living for ever, beloved of IsisA In the sculptures on
the ruins which remain Arq-Amen is shown standing between
M enthu-Ra, lord of
Thebes, and Atmu,
the god of Heli-
opolis, and sacrificing
to Thoth, who pro-
mises to give him a
long and prosperous
life as king. Arq-
Amen (Ergamenes)
iscalled the “beauti-
“ ful god, son of
“ Khnemu and Osi-
£t
ris, born of Sati
“
—
-
and Isis, nursed by
- “ Aneq and Neph-
“ thys,” etc. Accord-
ing to Diodorus, the
priests of Meroe in
Ethiopia were in the
habit of sending,
“ whensoever they
Plan of the Temple of Dendur. “ please, a messenger
“ to the king, com-
“ manding him death; for that such is the
to put himself to
“ pleasure of the gods; . . . and so
in former ages, the kings
“ without force and compulsion of arms, but merely bewitched
“ by a fond superstition, observed the custom till Ergamenes
;
“ (Arq-Amen), a king of Ethiopia, who reigned in the time of

“ Ptolemy II, bred up in the Grecian discipline and philosophy,
“ was the first that was so bold as to reject and despise such
“ commands. For this prince marched with a con-
“ siderable body of men to the sanctuary, where stood the
“golden temple of the Ethiopians, and there cut the throats
“of all- the priests ” (Book iii, chap. vi). Many of the
TEMPLE OF DAKKAH.
Ptolemies and some Roman Emperors made additions to the

temple at Dakkah.
In 1906, Mr. J. Garstang excavated the undisturbed cemetery
of Kushtamnah, which
lies about 5 miles to the
north of Dakkah. About
200 graves were cleared
out, and the objects
discovered seem to show
that a close analogy ex-
isted between the funeral
customs of the Nubians
and the predynastic and
dynastic peoples of
Egypt They suggest
that the primitive type
of Egyptian culture may
have survived in the
remoter districts of
Upper Egypt until the
Xllth dynasty or later.
On the east bank of
the river opposite Dak-
kah is Kubban, called
Baka in the hiero-
glyphics, a village which
is said to mark the site
of Tachompso or
Metachompso, “ the
place of crocodiles.’’ As
Pselcis increased, so
Tachompso declined and
became finally merely a
suburb of that town ; it Han Temple of Kirshah.
was generally called Contra-Pselcis. The name Tachompso is
derived from the old Egyptian name of the town, Ta-qemt-sa.
Tachompso was the frontier town which marked the limit on
the south of the district which lay between Egypt and Ethiopia,
and derived its name, Dodecaschoenus, from the fact that
it comprised 1 2 schoinoi
;
the schoinos is said by Herodotus,
(ii, 6) to be equal to 60 stades, but other writers reckon fewer
stades to the schoinos. The stade equals one-eighth of a mile*

During the Xllth, XVIIIth, and XIXtk dynasties this place
752 TEMPLE OF DENDf)R.
was well fortified by the Egyptians, and on many blocks of

stone close by are found the names of Thothmes III, Heru-em-
heb, and Rameses II. It appears to have been the point from
which the wretched people condemned to labour in the gold mines
in the desert of the land of Akita set out ; and an interesting
inscription on a stone found here relates that Rameses II,
Temple of Dendur, as it appeared in the days of Gau.
having heard that much gold existed in this land, which was
inaccessible on account of the absolute want of water, bored a
well in the mountain, 12 cubits deep, so that henceforth men
could come and go by this land. His father Seti I had bored
a well 120 cubits deep, but no water appeared in it. From
Kubban a road runs through the W&di ‘Alaki to. the gold
TEMPLE OF DAKKAH.
3 B
)
754 TEMPLE OF DARK AH.
mines there, which are now being worked. At Kurtah, a few

miles south of Dakkah, on the west bank of the river, are
the remains of a temple which was built in Roman times
Plan of the Temple of Dakkah. (From Lepsius.

upon a where a temple had stood in the days of Thothmes
site
III. Opposite Miharrakah, about 675 miles from Cairo, on
theVwest bank of the river, lie the ruins of Hierasycaminus,
WADI SABU‘AH. 755
the later limit on the south of the Dodecaschoenus. About

20 miles from Dakkah, and 690 from Cairo, on the west
bank of the river, is Wadi 5abu‘ah, or the “ Valley of the
Lions, ” where there are the remains of a temple .partly built of
sandstone, and partly excavated in the rock; the place is so
called on account of the dromos of 16 sphinxes which led up
to the temple. On the sculptures which still remain here may
be seen Rameses II, the builder of the temple, “ making an
“ offering of incense to father Amen, the king of the gods,”
who says to him, “I give to
“ thee all might, and I give the
“ world to thee, in peace.” Else-
where the king is making offer-
ings to Tefnut, lady of heaven,
Nebt-hetep, Horus, and Thoth,
each of whom promises to be-
stow some blessing upon him.
On another part is a boat con-
taining a ram-headed god, and
Harmachis seated in a shrine,
accompanied by Horus, Thoth,
Isis, and Maat ;
the king kneels
before him in adoration, and the
god says that he will give him
Plan of the Tem P le of Mit? arra kah.
myriads of years and festivals ;
on each side is a figure of Rameses II making an offering.

Beneath this scene is a figure of a Christian saint holding a key,
and an inscription on each side tells us that it is meant to
represent Peter the Apostle. This picture and the remains of
plaster on the walls show that the chambers of the temple were
used by the early Christians as chapels.
Kuruskuw (Korosko), on the east bank of the river,
703 miles from Cairo, was from the earliest times the point
of departure for merchants and others going to and from the
Sudan, via Abu Hamad; from the western bank there was a
caravan route across into North Africa. In ancient days the
land which lay to the east of Korosko was called Uaua, and as
early as the Vlth dynasty the officer Una visited it in order to
obtain blocks of acacia wood for his king Pepi I. An in-
scription, found a few hundred yards to the east of the town,
records that the country round about was conquered in the
Xllth dynasty by Amenem-hat I. A
capital idea of the
general character of Nubian scenery can be obtained by
3 B 2
75 6 KOROSKO.
ascending the mountain, which

is now, thanks to a good path,
On passing
easily accessible.
the village of Korosko the
traveller enters the Egyp =
tian Sudan. The true
boundary of the Egyptian
Sudan on the north begins at
Korosko, runs to the south-
east as far as lat. 22 0 N., then
0
to the east as far as long. 34
E., then to the north-east to
Kurbelab and Malekab, and
then to the east to Bir Shalatan
on the west coast of the Red
Sea. The administrative
boundary of the Egyptian
Sudan on the north has been
fixed byGebel Sahabah and
Faras Island, 12 miles N. of
0
lat. 22 N., which is the
political boundary, and 20
miles N. of Wadi Halfah.
In 1907 Mr. Maclver carried
out excavations on a series of
sites in the district which lies
between Korosko and Ama-
dah, and is commonly known
as Ar=Rikah, or, as he writes
the name, Areika. At Al-
Gazirah he discovered and
excavated a “ buried castle,”
which he assigns to the period
of the XVlIIth dynasty. A
little to the north of the castle
are three small cemeteries. The
cemetery nearest the castle is
Romano-Nubian,andcontained
100 graves. The cemetery to
the north of this contained 60
graves, and judging by the ob-
Plan of the Temple of jects which were found in them
Wadi Sabu‘ah. should belong to the Pre-
‘AMADAH, DERR, AND IBRfM. 757
dynastic Period. The third cemetery yielded objects of the

XVII Ith dynasty. At Shablul another cemetery was discovered
and excavated, and in it were found tombs of a kind “which has
“ never been observed
“ before in Egypt or
“ Nubia.” The evi-
dence obtained from the
shapes and designs of the
pottery found suggests
that it dates from some
period in the first three

centuries of our era.
At ‘Amadah, on the
west bank of the river,
71 1 miles from Cairo,
is a small but interest-
ing temple, which ap-

pears to have been
founded in the Xllth
dynasty by Usertsen II,
who conquered Nubia
by setting fire to stand-
ing crops, by carrying
away wives and
the
cattle, and by cutting
down the men on
their way to and from
the wells. This temple
was repaired by Thoth-
mes III and other kings
Plan of the Temple of Amadah.
of the XV
Illth dynasty.
At D£rr, on the east bank of the river, 715 miles from
Cairo, is a small, badly executed, rock-hewn temple of the time
of Rameses II, where the usual scenes representing the defeat
of the Ethiopians are depicted. The king is accompanied by
a tame “ lion which follows after his majesty.” Close to the
temple is the rock stele of the prince /\men-em-heb of the
same period ;
the temple was dedicated to Amen-Ra. The
Egyptian name of the town was Per-Rd pa temdi “the town
,
of the temple of the sun.”

Thirteen miles beyond D£rr, 728 miles from Cairo, also
on the east bank of the river, stands I brim, which marks
the site of the ancient Primis, or Premnis, called in the
758 KARANOG.
Egyptian inscriptions ,
Maamam. This
^ (j
town was captured during the reign of Augustus by Petronius

on his victorious march upon Napata. In the first and third
naos at Primis are representations of Nehi, the governor of
Nubia, with other officers, bringing gifts before Thothmes III,
which shows that these hollows were hewn during the reign of
this king ; and in another, Rameses II is receiving adorations
from Setau, prince of Ethiopia, and a number of his officers.
At Anibah, just opposite Ibrim, is thegrave of Penni, the
governor of the district, who
died during the reign of
Rameses VI. About three miles off is the battle-field of
Toski, on the east bank of the Nile, where Sir Francis
Grenfell slew Wad an-Nagumi and utterly defeated the
Dervishes on August 4th, 1891.
During the winter of 1909-10 Mr. Maclver and Mr. C. L.
Woolley carried out excavations at Karanog, the site of a
Romano-Nubian fortress, which lies a few miles to the south
of the Island of Tomas, and in the cemetery near Anibah.
The fortress of Karanog is built of mud brick, is quadrilateral
and occupies the north-west comer of a fair-sized town, now
almost completely buried. The walls of the main building
still stand three storeys high ; some of the mud brick vaults
are still intact, and the remains of a gate-house and winding

stair can be traced. The cemetery lies three miles south
of Karanog. Mr. Maclver thinks that the people buried
there were Nubian or Sudani. They were a pastoral folk,
but they were also hunters, and mighty builders in brick.
They worshipped Amen, Hathor, Anubis, Isis, and Sarapis,
but in Nubia, as in Egypt and elsewhere in late times, the
position of Osiris was not so exalted as during the earlier periods
of Egyptian history. Men no longer wished to become a
counterpart of Osiris, but of Ra, and the kh.u, or spirit-soul,
was believed to be of more importance than the ba or heart-
,
soul. Nubian sculpture is rough and heavy, but in the making

of pottery the Nubians excelled, and attained to a skill
in this craft which has never been equalled by any other
African people. As regards their tombs, the chamber in
which the body lay was either built in brick or cut in the
hard Nile mud. In the former case the rectangular pit had
perpendicular sides, and at the bottom of this, so deep that
its top should ultimately be well below the level of the ground,
was built a chamber or a complex of chambers in mud brick,

ABU SIM BEL. 759
with vaulted roof and low walls which at the ends were carried
up square to the level of the outside of the vault and effectu-
ally closed the tomb. When the tomb chamber had received its
occupant it was covered in or the door was bricked up, and the
straight shaft or sloping dromos was filled again with the refuse
that had been thrown out in digging it. In the case of tombs
of wealthy people a superstructure was built over the tomb.
The tomb often contained a construction in brick in the shape
of an ordinary Egyptian stone table for offerings. A little in
front of this was a low rectangular brick altar, and on it
was placed a stone table for offering’s, with figures of bread-
cakes and vessels for water sculptured on it, and having a
Meroitic inscription on its edges. The approach of the
tomb w as invariably of brick, and offerings were deposited
r
in it. Sometimes sepulchral stelae were set up in the

approach. In the superstructure of the tomb of a person
of rank there was usually placed a Ba = statue, i.e ., a statue
half hawk, half man. It probably stood in a niche above
the tomb, and Mr. Maclver is right in suggesting that on the
days when the family of the deceased celebrated commemora-
tive festivals, the Ba-statue was drawn out from its rtcess into
the light so that it might seem to be partaking of the meat
and drink which they were consuming. The superstructure
was a rectangle of brickwork which was supposed to stand
immediately over the place where the body lay; often, how-
ever, it did not do so. The top was either rounded or flat.
Offerings were frequently buried in the superstructure. At
the back of several of the superstructures Mr. Maclver found
a brick construction, either semicircular or with straight sides,
to which he has given the name of the hollow Apse ; here
also offerings were placed. In one tomb he found before the
approach a brick platform which his Nubian workmen at once
recognized as a “praying stool.” Full descriptions of all these
tombs will be found in Karandg, by Woolley and Maclver,
Philadelphia, 1910.
Abu Simbel, on the west bank of the river, 762 miles from
Cairo, the classical Aboccis, and the place called Abshek in
is
the Egyptian inscriptions. Around, or near the temple, a town

of considerable size once stood ; all traces of this have, how-
ever, disappeared. To the north of the great temple, hewn in
the living rock, is a smaller temple, about 84 feet long, which
was dedicated to the goddess Hathor by Rameses II and his
wife Nefert-Ari. The front is ornamented with statues of the
j6d A6u SlMBEL.
king, his wife* and some of his children, and over the door are
his names arid titles. In the hall inside are six square Hathor-
headed pillars also inscribed with the names and titles of
Raineses and his wife. In the small chamber at the extreme
end of the temple is an interesting scene in which the king is
making an offering to Hathor in the form of a cow ; she is
called the “lady of Abshek,” and is standing behind a figure of
the king.
The chief object of interest at Abu Simbel is the Great
Temple built by Rameses II to commemorate his victory over
the Kheta in north-east Syria; it is the largest and finest
Egyptian monument in Nubia, and for simple grandeur and

majesty is second to none in all Egypt. This temple is hewn
out of the solid grit-stone rock to a depth of 185 feet, and the
surface of the rock, which originally sloped down to the river,
was cut away for a space of about 90 feet square to form the
front of the temple, which is ornamented by four colossal
statues of Rameses II, 66 feet high, seated on thrones, hewn
ABU SIMBEL. 761
Out of the living rock. The

cornice is, according to the
drawing by Lepsius, decorated with 2 1 cynocephali, and beneath
it, in the middle, is a line of hieroglyphics, “ I give to thee all
7
life and strength/ on the right side of which are four figures
of Ra, and eight cartouches containing the prenomen of

Rameses II, with an uraeus on each side; on the left side are
four figures of men, and eight cartouches as on the right.
The line of boldly cut hieroglyphics below reads, “ The living
“ Horus, the mighty bull, beloved of Maat, king of the North and
“South, Usr-Maat-Ra setep en -Ra, son of the Sun, Rameses,
“ beloved of Amen, beloved of Harmakhis the great god.’ Over7
the door is a statue of Harmakhis, and on each side of him is a

figure of the king making offerings. Each of the four colossi
had the name of Rameses II inscribed upon each shoulder and
breast. On the leg of one of these are several interesting Greek
inscriptions, which are thought to have been written by troops
who marched into Ethiopia -in the days of Psammetichus I.
The interior of the temple consists of a large hall, in which
are eight columns with large figures of Osiris about 17 feet
high upon them, and from which eight chambers open ; a
second hall having four square columns ; and a third hall,
without pillars, from which open three chambers. In the
centre chamber are an altar and four seated figures, viz.,
Harmakhis, Rameses II, Amen-Ra, and Ptah ; the first two
are coloured red, the third blue, and- the fourth white. In the
.
sculptures on the walls Rameses is seen offering to Amen-R.a,

Sekhet, Harmakhis, Menu/ Thoth, and other deities ; there is
a list of his children, with many small scenes of considerable
importance. The subjects of the larger scenes are, as was to
be expected, representations of the principal events in the
victorious battles of the great king, in which he appears putting
his foes to death with the weapons which Harmakhis has given
to him. The accompanying hieroglyphics describe these scenes
with terse accuracy.
One of the most interesting inscriptions at Abu Simbel is
that found on a slab, which states that in the fifth year of the
reign of Rameses II, his majesty was in the land of Tchah, not
far from Kadesh on the Orontes. The outposts kept a sharp
look-out, and when the army came to the south of the town of
Shabtun, two of the spies of the Shasu came into the camp and
pretended that they had been sent by the chiefs of their tribe
to inform Rameses II that they had forsaken the chief of the
Kheta, and that they wished to make an alliance with his
762 ABU SIMBEL.
majesty and become vassals of his. They then went on to say

that the chief of the Kheta was in the land of Khirebu (Aleppo)
to the north of Tunep, some distance off, and that he was
afraid to come near the Egyptian king. These two men were
giving false information, and they had actually been sent by the
Kheta chief to find out where Rameses and his army were ;
Plan of the Temple of Rameses II. at Abu Simbel.
the Kheta chief andhis army were at that moment drawn up

in battle arraybehind Kadesh. Shortly after these men were
dismissed, an Egyptian scout came into the king’s presence
bringing with him two spies from the army of the chief of the
Kheta ; on being questioned, they informed Rameses that the
ABLJ SIMBKL. 763
chief of the Kheta was encamped behind Kadesh, and that he

had succeeded in gathering together a multitude of soldiers
and chariots from the countries round about. Rameses sum-
moned his officers to his presence, and informed them of the
news which he had just heard they listened with surprise,
;
and insisted that the newly-received information was untrue.

Rameses blamed the chiefs of the intelligence department
seriously for their neglect of duty, and they admitted their
fault. Orders were straightway issued for the Egyptian
Plan of the Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel.
army to march upon Kadesh, and as they were crossing

an arm of the river near that city the hostile forces fell
in with each other. When Rameses saw this, he “growled
at them like his father Menthu, lord of Thebes,” and,
having hastily put on his full armour, he mounted his
chariot and drove into the battle. His onset was so sudden
and rapid that before he knew where he was he found himself
surrounded by the enemy, and completely isolated from his
7 64 ABU SIMBEL.
own troops. He called upon his father Amen-Ra to help him,

and then addressed himself to a slaughter of all those that came
in his way, and his prowess was so great that the enemy fell in
heaps, one over the other, into the waters of the Orontes. He
was quite alone, and not one of his soldiers or horsemen came
near him to help him. It was only with great difficulty he
succeeded in cutting his way through the ranks of the enemy.
At the end of the inscription he says, “ Every thing that my
“ majesty has stated, that did I in the presence of my soldiers
“ and horsemen.” This event in the battle of the Egyptians
against the Kheta was made the subject of an interesting poem
by Pen-ta-urt ; this composition was considered worthy to be
inscribed upon papyri, and upon the walls of the temples which
Rameses built.
In the course of the works carried out at Abu Simbel
M. Barsanti discovered the remains of a chapel of Rameses II,
hitherto unknown, with its furniture complete, i.e., two altars,
two obelisks, and the shrine with the statues of the two gods
who were worshipped in the chapel. The chapel is decorated
with reliefs on the south and east sides, and is approached by
means of four steps. Over the door is sculptured a winged
disk, with pendent uraei. In the centre of the chapel is
one altar, about 4 feet 10 inches high, the sides at the base
being about 4 feet 1 inch long, and of the usual form. The
east, west, and south sides bear inscriptions containing the
names and titles of Rameses II. On the altar are four apes,
each about 3 feet high, standing upright with their paws raised
in adoration ;
two face the east and two face the west. On the
north and south sides of the altar, at the corners, are two
sandstone obelisks, each about 9 feet 6 inches high. The
west and south sides of the north-east obelisk are without
inscriptions ; on the east side is a small relief representing the
king offering 00 to Harmakhis, and on the north side is a
line of text containing the titles of Rameses II. All four sides
of the south-east obelisk are inscribed with texts, and on each of
the east, west, and south sides is a small relief. A second altar
is sculptured with reliefs, and inscribed with the names and
titles of Rameses II. The reliefs on the walls represent the

king kneeling before Harmakhis and other gods. By the side
of the steps were stelae ; the one on the south side was about
5 feet high, and that on the north side about 3 feet 6 inches.
In the sand was found a stele of Hui, sculptured with scenes
representing the deceased adoring Ra and Thoth, and his wife
ABU SIMBEL. 765
adoring Anuqet. A number

of other stelae were brought to
light by M. Barsanti course of his work, among them
in the
being a funerary tablet of Pa-ser, a Viceroy of Nubia in the
nvM mnos
reign of Rameses The clearing of the sand also revealed
II.
the remains of a row of statues which stood in front of the
Great Temple. Those who visited Abft Simbel before the
7 66
ABU SIMBEL.
removal of the sand from the front of the temple will remember
the tomb of Major Tidswell, who died of dysentery in 1884,
and was buried in the sand at the southern end of the cutting
in the rock, near the little chapel cleared by Miss Edwards’s
party in 1873. The grave was made of pieces of stone
collected from the ruins of the northern chapel, and was
covered over with a slab of grey granite ; the sand, which fell
continually upon it, was cleared away by M. Maspero’s orders
once a year, in January. In 1908 it was noticed that the
inundation of the preceding summer had undermined the
grave, and it was feared that the coming Nile flood would
wash it away entirely. Therefore in 1909 the remains were
removed and laid in a lead coffin, which was placed in a
wooden coffin, and were then laid in a chamber on the north
side of the great hypostyle hall until a final resting-place could
be found for them. On the 3rd of January, 1,910, they were
taken out from the chamber and interred in a grave hewn in
the corridor to the south of the facade between the base of the
last colossal figure on the south and the rock wall. The
coffins were laid in cement by M. Barsanti, in the presence of
Prof. Maspero, and covered with a tablet of cement, and on
this was laid the granite tombstone, which was fastened in its
place securely with mortar. A report of the proceedings was
made and copies of it were forwarded to Sir John Grenfell
Maxwell, the General commanding the British Army of
Occupation, and to the family of Major Tidswell.
A little to the south of the Great Temple is a small building
which was reopened in 1873 by Mr. McCallum, Miss Edwards,
and party.
On Faras Island, 20 miles from Wadi Halfab, is Gebel

Sahabah, which, by agreement between the Egyptian and
Sudan Governments, marks the administrative frontier of
Egypt on the south, and the administrative frontier of
the Sudan on the north. The cemetery on Faras Island
was excavated by Mr. F. L. Griffith during the winter of
1910-11, and several objects of interest were found.
About 15 miles upstream of Abh Simbel we enter the
district of Faras, which must have been a thriving and
important locality in the first century of our era. In recent
years the whole site has been carefully examined by
Messrs. Maclver and Mileham, who have devoted special
attention to the ruins of several Coptic churches which are
FARAS. 767
stillto be seen there. The Island of Faras, which the modern

inhabitants call Artekio, was in old days, as is the case now,
the abode of the living, and the western bank of the Nile close
to the island formed the resting place of the dead ; in the
latter place Nubian Christians of the early centuries built
funerary churches. Small temples were built there even
under the XVIIIth dynasty, and the tombs in the hills,
and the ruins of Ptolemaic buildings and of small Roman
temples, prove that the district was of considerable importance
commercially. Close to the river bank is a good example of
the fortresses which are found in several parts of Nubia ; the
area enclosed by the outer wall of the fortress is about
980 feet long and 580 feet broad. The lower part of the wall
is of ashlar to a height of 13 feet, and its upper part of crude
brick ; one part of this wall is still 33 feet high, and the thick-
ness of the north-west wall is 33 feet. Mr. Mileham found
remains of Roman pottery in the brickwork, and therefore
attributes the fortress to the first century a.d. In the area of
the fortress fragments of stone were found bearing the car-
touches of Rameses II and Thothmes III. A portion of the
citadel, or “keep,” still remains, and when complete it is
thought to have had four storeys and to have been about
65 feet high. At one time one of its chambers was used as a
church. In and about the area of the fortress are remains of
churches, cemeteries, &c. On the ledge of rock which skirts
the desert are the ruins of two Coptic churches. The
northern church was about 65 feet long and 42 feet broad, and
appears to have been built in the ninth century. The southern
church is a little longer, being nearly 75 feet long and nearly
40 feet broad, and it was probably built in the eighth century.
A glance at the plan published by Mr. Mileham shows that
the building is askew, and the maintenance of the fabric must
have caused the ecclesiastical authorities of the day much
anxiety. It helps us to understand why the ruin of such
churches is so complete. Opposite to the village of Faras, on
the east bank of the Nile, are also ruins of two Coptic
churches ; they are close to the village of Addendan. The
northern church stands on Gebel Sahabah, which marks the
boundary between Egypt and the Stidan, and is about 75 feet
long and 42 feet wide. The columns are sandstone monoliths
about 1 3^ feet high. The southern church is smaller, stands
behind the hill, and was of unusual construction. It had a
central dome with a vaulted aisle on each side of it.
y68 wad! halfah.
At Sarrah, about 15 miles north of Wadi Halfah, on the

east bank of the Nile, are the remains of a ruined town, with a
small Coptic church, with a dome, standing among them.
.
The town was built on the ruins of an Egyptian fortress,

the area covered by which was about 360 feet long and 260 feet
broad. This fortress was protected by a ditch about 1 1 feet
deep. The church is 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, and
consists of a sanctuary, two sacristies, nave, aisles and a stair-
case. To the north is a smaller church, 27 feet long and
23 feet broad ; to the south is another church 30 feet long and
23 feet 6 inches broad. Nearly a mile to the south of the area
of the fortress is another church, which is built entirely of brick.
About 9 miles to the north of the railway station at
Tawfikiyah, on the left bank of the Nile, opposite to the village
of Daberah, are the ruins of an ancient Coptic church, which
were excavated by Messrs. Maclver and Mileham in 1908.
The church was rectangular and was about 54 feet long by
40 feet wide, and consisted of Haikal, or sanctuary, nave, two
aisles, two staircases, and a bay at the west end. The pulpit
stood against the eastern pier of the north arcade. The
church had an upper storey, which was divided into separate
chambers with communicating doors corresponding to the
lower divisions of the lower floor. In the Haikal was found
the tombstone of Peter the Deacon, the son of Abba George,
the Bishop of Korti, who died in the 745th year of the Era of
the Martyrs, i.e ., a.d. 1029.
Wadi Halfah.
Cook’s Office, near Railway Station.
On the east bank of the Nile, 802 miles from Cairo, the
town of Wadi Halfah, with its new suburb Tawfikiyah, marks
the site of a part of the district called Buhen in the hiero-
glyphic inscriptions, where, as at Derr and Ibrim, the god
Harmakhis was worshipped. On the plain to the east of the
town some interesting flint weapons have been found, and a
few miles distant are the fossil remains of a forest. On the
western bank of the river, a little further to the south, are
the remains of a temple built by Usertsen I, a king of the
Xllth dynasty, where Champollion discovered a portion of
names of the tribes which Usertsen
a stele inscribed with the
conquered. This temple was in use until the XXth dynasty.
Further to the south are fine remains of the temple built by
Thothmes II and Thothmes III, which contains an account,
WADI HALFAH. 769
cut on the west side of a square column in the forecourt, of

the victories of Thothmes III over the tribes of the Eastern
Desert in the 23rd year of his reign. The painted reliefs are
very good and interesting. On the columns are several Greek
and Egyptian inscriptions, some of the latter being dated in
the reigns of kings of the XIXth and XXth dynasties. The
above temples were excavated by Colonel (now Sir) C. Holled
Smith in 1886-7, and in 1892 by Captain H. G. Lyons, who
also cleared out the ruins of several buildings on both banks
of the river. Later the XVIIIth dynasty temple was again
cleared out by Colonel Hayes Sadler and Mr. Somers Clarke,
and in 1905 Sir Reginald Wingate caused it to be again
cleared, a wall to be built round it, and a portion of it to be-
covered over with a light roof to protect the wall paintings.
These latter works were performed by Mr. J. W. Crowfoot,
Inspector of Education in the Sftdan, and Mr. Scott Moncrieff,
of the British Museum.
In the winter of 1909-10 Mr. Randall Maclver continued
excavations on the site of the Egyptian town of Behen, or
Wadi Halfah. The portion of the northern temple which
was built by Amen-hetep II is well known, but in removing
the stone pavement which formed the floor Mr. Maclver
found a fine doorway inscribed with the name and titles of
Aahmes I, the first king of the XVIIIth dynasty. At a
lower level an entire system of walls was disclosed, and it
seems clear that the parts of them which underlie the northern
temple are the remains of the Xllth dynasty temple, whence
came the well-known stele of Usertsen I now in the Florence
Museum. The remains of the Xllth dynasty temple were
cleared down to the lowest foundation level, and as the debris
was removed to a distance the walls and buildings were left
open to view. It was then seen that the inner fortification
wall went down to a depth of 13 feet below the desert sand,
and formed part of the Xllth dynasty system. This wall
bounds Hatshepset’s temple on the north and continues on
the east in front of the temple, where it rises at one point
in a high mass which is generally described as the remains of
a pylon. Both pylon and wall belong to the Xllth dynasty,
and form part of a building which underlies the temple of
Hatshepset. As the result of Mr. Maclver’s work this temple,
enclosed by its modern wall and protected by its modern roof,
stands on a high platform in a very commanding position.
On the west bank of the Nile, a few hundred yards to the
3 c
770 WADI HALFAH.
south of the girdle wall of the fortress, are the ruins of a Coptic
church, which were excavated by Mr. Maclver in 1909. This
church was a reconstruction of an earlier building, of which
some of the old walls and piers had been buttressed by addi-
tional brick walls, and a number of new piers had been added.
A few miles to the south of Wadi Halfah begins the
Second Cataract, and a prominent feature in the land-
scape is the famous Rock of Abusir, on which are
inscribed the names of hundreds of travellers of all nations,
and frequently the dates when they visited the Rock. Near
this Rock and quite close to the tomb of Shekh ‘Abd al-
Kadar is a small Coptic church which Mr. Somers Clarke
thus describes :
“ This very little building, of crude brick,
“ retains a good deal of its vaulted roof, and consequently
“ the paintings with which the walls have been covered are
“ better preserved than in any other place visited. The
“ paintings are of the usual type. Making use almost entirely
“ of earth colours, as red and yellow ochre, with black for
“ the outlines, the artist depicted grim figures of a Byzantine
“ type. The building is so exposed to injury from the
“ passer-by, that we deemed it impolitic to uncover more of
“ the painting than is now to be seen until we were assured
“ that steps could be taken to protect the little building.”
Ruins of a church are also to be found a little to the south.
About 12 miles to the south of Wadi Halfah on the west
bank, is the fortress of Mirgissi, or Murgissi, which dates
from the Xllth dynasty, and is one of the great series of
forts which were built by the kings of that dynasty when
they occupied the Sudan. It is built of crude brick and
stands on a steep bank about 80 feet above the Nile. The
outer walls enclose an area of 820 feet by 465 feet, the great
spurs of walls standing forward 150 feet or more. The walls
on the north, south, and west sides are double, and have spur-
walls some 18 or 20 feet thick. On an island in the river
just opposite is another crude brick fortress, with an area of
736 feet by 195 feet. Twenty-two miles further south, on the
west bank, and standing on a high hill, is a similar fort, with
a strongly fortified gateway. All these are built on the same
plan, and resemble the fortress on Gazirat al-Malik, near
Semnah, and that on an island in the Nile some 10 miles south of
Koshah, and several others which the writer has visited. The
whole of this district is full of interesting remains, and many
of the islets in the river deserve careful examination.
77i
III.— THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN.

Ancient History of the Sudan. —
The Sudan, or
Country of the Blacks, in the earliest dynastic times began at
Elephantine or Aswan, and all expeditions into the country to
the south of the First Cataract started from this place. It is
probable that there never was a time when caravans from Egypt
did not travel into the Sudan for trading purposes, but there is
no definite mention of any invasion of the country until we come
to the reign of Seneferu, a king of the IVth dynasty, about
3800 b.c. From the Stele of Palermo, first published by
Pellegrini, we learn that this king invaded the Sudan and brought
back 7,000 men and 200,000 head of cattle. From this it is
cleai that even in those remote days the kings of Egypt needed
black slaves to carry out their works, and that they regarded the
Sudan as the natural source whence they were to be obtained.
About 500 years later, /.<?., under the Vlth dynasty, several
Egyptian officials were sent on trading missions to the Sudan,
and they were eminently successful in their undertakings. One
of these, the official Una, made his way far to the south where
large trees grew, and there seems to be good reason for believing
that he visited Dar Fur, Kordofan, and also the country between
the White and Blue Niles. Another official, Her = khuf, whose
tomb is at Aswan, conducted several trading missions into the
Sudan, and he went to the Land of the Spirits, which seems
to have been near Punt, which the Egyptians regarded as their
original home, and brought back a pygmy, who was afterwards
sent to dance before the king at Memphis. The word used
for “ pygmy ” is tenk and it is an interesting fact

AAAAAA
that it survives to the present time Amharic, or Abyssinian,
in
under the form of denk g As there were pygmies in Egypt
*
;
in the Archaic Period, about 4200 b.c., it is clear that there

must have been intercourse between Egypt and the Sudan before
Seneferu made his great raid into that country. A king of the
Vth dynasty, Assa, also sent an official called Ba-ur-Tet on a
similar mission, and was so pleased with the pygmy that he
. conferred very high honours upon Ba-ur-Tet.
Under the Xlth dynasty one of the Menthu-hetep kings
occupied Behen, or Wadi Halfah, and from about 2600 b.c. to
1000 b.c. this place was to all intents and purposes the boundary
3 c 2
772 THE SUDAN HISTORY.
of Egypt on the south. The kings of the Xllth dynasty first

tightened their hold upon the country, and built forts at
Kalabshah, Dakkah, Korosko, Ibrim, and Behen, and they made
strong outposts at Semnah and Kummah, about 40 miles south
of Behen. The king whose name stands pre-eminent in con-
nection with the conquest of the Sudan is Usertsen III. Under
the Xllth dynasty the Sudan supplied Egypt with slaves and
gold. The kings of the XVIIIth dynasty “enlarged the
borders of Egypt ” in the Sudan until their territory reached to
the Blue Nile. Amen-hetep III built a large temple at Sulb,
wherein he himself was worshipped as a god, and he built another
at Sadenga in honour of his wife Thi. Under this dynasty the
Sudan was divided into provinces, the governors of which were
under the jurisdiction of an overlord, who was appointed by the
king of Egypt and called the “prince of Kash ” (Cush). The
capital of Egypt’s Nubian Kingdom was at the foot of the
Fourth Cataract, and was called Napata. The country was
ruled by Egyptians, who brought with them into the Sftdan the
language, civilization, arts, manners and customs, etc., of Egypt.
The peoples and tribes south of Wadi Halfah caused the great
kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties much trouble, and
it is very doubtful if they had any effective dominion beyond
the Fourth Cataract. The “ royal son of Kash ” (Cush) was,

no doubt, a great official, but Kesh, or “ Ethiopia,” as the word
is generally translated, was a geographical expression with
limited signification, and that the country of his rule included
the whole country which is now called Ethiopia is an un-
warranted assumption. The fact is that the Second and Third
Cataracts and the terrible, waterless Eastern desert, the Batn
al-Hagar, proved almost insuperable barriers in the way of
moving large masses of men from Egypt to the south, for the
cataracts could only be passed in boats during a few weeks at
the period of the inundation, and the desert between Korosko
and Abft Hamad, and that between Wadi Halfah (or Behen,
to use the Egyptian name) and Abh Hamad, struck terror into
the hearts of those who knew the character of the roads and the
fatigues of travelling upon them. So long as the natives were
friendly and rendered help, small bodies of troops might pass to
the south either by river or desert, but any serious opposition on
their part would invariably result in their destruction. So long
as trade was brisk and both buyer and seller were content, and
the nation to which each belonged could hold its own, wars were
unnecessary ; but as soon as the tribes of the South believed it
THE ST>DAN — HISTORY. 773
possible to invade, conquer, and spoil Egypt, they swooped down

upon it in much the same fashion as the followers of the Mahdi
and Khalifah did in recent years. Under the XVIIIth, XIXth and
XXth dynasties Egypt received large quantities of gold from the
Stidan, the Blue Nile, and the Eastern Desert, and her revenue
from these sources must have been equivalent to many millions
of pounds sterling. About 900 b.c. the priests of Amen were
compelled to leave Thebes, and they took refuge at Napata and
other places in Nubia. About 720 b.c. Piankhi, a native king
who reigned at Napata (Gebel Barkal), stirred up by the news
of a revolt in the Delta, invaded Egypt, captured city after city,
and finally seized Memphis and Heliopolis, and so became
master of all Egypt. Early in the seventh century b.c.
Tirhakah, another Nubian king, invaded Egypt, and he
advanced north to the Delta, and expelled the Assyrian
governors who had been appointed over the chief cities by
Esarhaddon, but finally was defeated by Ashur-bani-pal, king of
Assyria, and had to retreat to the south. The attack on. Egypt
was renewed by another Nubian king called Tanut=Amen,
who was, however, utterly routed by the Assyrians, and he
departed to his dark doom. For more than one hundred years
the Sudan was left in peace so far as Egypt was concerned, and
during this interval the kings of Napata made themselves
masters of the country to the south.
About 526 Nubia was invaded by Cambyses, but the king
of Napata, who was called Nastasen, or Nastasenen, collected
an army, and having advanced northwards defeated the Persian
at some place on the Third Cataract. The name of Cambyses
appears in the Nubian king’s annals (line 39) under the form of
Ka - M - BA - S - U - TENT.
Soon after the reign of this king several wars broke out between
the kings of the Northern Kingdom, which extended from the
Napata to Philae, and the Southern Kingdom of the Shdan,
which extended from the Fourth Cataract to the Blue Nile. Of
many of these wars we have no knowledge, but it is clear from
the Annals of Heru-sa-atef that the struggle for supremacy in
the Sfidan at the time was a severe one. After Egypt had fallen
under the rule of the Persians and Macedonians, the princes of
Napata continued to be their own masters ; but at a later period,
probaBly whilst the Ptolemies were reigning over Egypt, they
774 THE SI>DAN— HISTORY.
either moved their capital further south to a site on the fertile

plain which bounded by the Atbara and the Nile and the
is
Blue Nile, and is commonly called the “ Island of Meroe,” or

were succeeded in their sovereignty by another branch of the
same race as they themselves who were indigenous
to the pro-
vince. The
princes of Meroe built temples with ante-chapels,
pylons, courts, hypostyle halls, sanctuary chambers, etc., taking
as their models the temples of Napata, which in turn were copied
from the temples of Egypt, and they decorated them with bas-
reliefs and scenes, and inscriptions, chiefly in the hieroglyphic
character. Their buildings lack the beauty and finish of the
temples of Egypt, but many of them must have been grand and
impressive. In the third century b.c., one of the kings of
Northern Nubia called Arq-Amen was a great friend of
Ptolemy II, III, and Ptolemy IV, and his authority
Ptolemy
in the north appears to have extended to Philae. The Ptolemies
had no dominion over Nubia, but they carried on a brisk trade
in the Eastern Sudan by way of the Red Sea, and they had
large numbers of elephants brought from there. The gold trade
seems to have declined at this period, either because the mines
were exhausted, or because the veins of quartz were so far below
the surface that the working of them had become very difficult.
Probably about 200 b.c. the rulers of the Southern Kingdom
succeeded in overcoming the kings of Napata, and the central
power in the Egyptian Sudan established its capital on the
Island of Meroe. This region was, about this time, and for
several generations later, ruled by Queens of Meroe, each of
whom bore the title of “ Candace,” Strabo (XVII, r, 54)
speaks of the “ officers of Candace,” and Pliny says (VI, 30)
that “ a female, whose name was Candace, ruled over the
“ district, that name having passed from queen to queen for
“ many years.” Lepsius thought that he had found the original
of the name “ Candace ” in VE7 one of the

c
names of Queen Amen-arit, who built Pyramid No. 1 of Group
A at Meroe. The transcription of the signs in this cartouche
is, however, Kentahebit, which does not suit the theory;
moreover, this queen is the only one who bears the name of
u Kentahebit,” and if it
was the equivalent of “ Candace,”
other queens must have been called by it.
In the first century b.c. the Northern Kingdom appears to
have been ruled by nominees of the Queens of Meroe, and
about 30 b.c. it seems that the Nubians made an attempt to
THE St>DAN — HISTORY. 775
assert a supremacy over Upper Egypt. The great queen who

built temples at Nagaa and Wad Ba Nagaa also built a temple
at ‘Amarah, about 120 miles from Wadi Halfah, and this prob-
ably caused a dispute between herself and the Romans, who, on
the death of Cleopatra, became masters of Egypt. Candace ”
‘ 4
sent a force to the north, seized Philae, Elephantine, and Syene,

and made all the people there slaves. In 24 b.c., JElius Gallus
invaded Nubia, destroyed the forces of Candace, laid waste the
country, and captured her capital Napata. Candace was
obliged to send messengers to Rome to sue for peace and the
restitution of her territories.
During the first three centuries of the Christian Era the
Blemmyes of the Eastern Desert, and the Nobadae of the
Western Desert, gave the Romans a great deal of trouble, and
the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) was obliged to make them
an annual payment to prevent them from harassing Roman
dominions. In 453 these wild tribes made an agreement with
the Romans to keep the peace for 100 years, and, on the whole,
they observed their promise fairly well. Meanwhile Christians
had been steadily making their way into Nubia from the first
century onwards, and before 550 a native Christian king called

Silko succeeded in defeating the Nobadae tribes and in making
himself master of all Nubia. He made the town of Dongola
his capital, and Christianity became the official religion of the
country. The form of Christianity which he professed was that
of the Egyptian Jacobites, who acknowledged the Patriarch of
Alexandria as their head. The Liturgy used in the Nubian
churches was in Greek, and the Scriptures were read in Greek,
and the churches were decorated with frescoes containing
figures of the Apostles and other saints, after the manner of the
churches in Alexandria. Later the Nubian Christians adopted
Byzantine methods of decoration, and as late as the 14th
century churches were in existence on the Island of Meroe
which in form and internal ornamentation resembled the
churches of Constantinople.
Of the manners and customs of the Nubians or Ethiopians
classical writers do not speak very highly. Strabo (xvii, 2, §
says that they went naked for the most part that they were
;
nomadic shepherds of sheep, goats, and oxen, which were very

small. They lived on millet and barley, from which also a
drink was prepared, and made use of butter and fat instead of
oil. They fought with bows and arrows, and some of their
soldiers were armed with leather shields. They worshipped
776 THE SUDAN — HISTORY.
Hercules, Isis, and Pan (by which we may understand Amen-Ra,
Mut, and Khensu), and believed in one god who was immortal,
and in another who was mortal and without a name. It is
clear, though, that Strabo often refers to tribes and peoples
who lived south of Khartum, and that he treats them all as
Ethiopians or Nubians.
—
Modern History of the Sudan. Soon after the conquest
of Egypt by ‘Amr ibn al ‘Asi in 640, the Muslims marched
into Nubia, and having conquered the king of Dongola they
fixed the Bakt or tribute which the country was to pay
annually to the Arabs. A formal treaty was drawn up and
signed by representatives of the Arabs and Nubians, and, on
the whole, the latter observed it very well. In 878 the
Nubians rebelled and were punished. In 956 the Muslims
took Primis, and in 969 Gawhar invited the king of Nubia to
turn Muhammadan. In 1005 the Nubians overran Egypt.
In 1173 Shams ad-Dawlah Turan Shah invaded Nubia because
the king refused to pay the tribute. He took Ibrim, destroyed
the city, and captured 700,000 prisoners. In 1275 the
Muslims annexed the Sudan. In 1287 the Muslims raided
the country far to the south of Dongola. In 1365 the Nubian
tribe of Kanz seized Aswan. About 1500 the Fung tribes 1
finally destroyed the Christian kingdom of Aiwa, and set up a

king whose capital was at Sennaar. In 1517 Salim captured
Egypt, and sent troops by sea to Masawa‘to occupy the Sudan.
The Fungs, however, held their own and continued to be
masters of the country. From Egypt numbers of Turkish and
Bosnian troops entered Nubia via Aswan, and they took
possession of the Nile Valley as far south as the Fourth Cataract.
The rule of the Fungs lasted from 1505 to the end of the
XVII Ith century. In other parts of the Sudan there reigned :
1. The ‘Abdallat Shekhs, i.e., 18 kings in about 230 years.

2. The Kings of Fa=Zogli, i.e., 17 kings in 215 years. 3. The
Kings of Shendi, i.e., 16 kings in 215 years. 4. The
Sultans of Dar Fur, i.e 26 Sultans in 420 years (a.d. 1445-
.,
1865). The Sudan was invaded in 1820 by Muhammad

‘All, who wished to recruit his army from its tribes, and
to collect a revenue from it ; he had heard that there was
much gold in the country, and he determined to get
possession of it. He decided to form an army of Sfidani
men, and the raids which he made to obtain men laid the
foundation of one of the most hideous phases of the slave trade.
The army he sent was under the command of his son Isma‘il,
THE SUDAN — HISTORY. Ill
and success was decisive.

its Ismael occupied Berber and
Shendi, and then advanced to Sennaar. In 1821 Isma‘il
ascended the Blue Nile, plundering the tribes as he went, and
his brother Ibrahim led a force up the White Nile. Dar Fur
and Kordofan were annexed by the Defterdar Muhammad,
the son-in-law of Muhammad ‘All, and he perpetrated terrible
atrocities. On the east the Egyptian force reached Tomat on
the Atbara, and in the south as far as the Dinka country.
When Isma‘il returned to Shendi he and his nobles were invited
to dinner by Nimr the Mekh, or governor, and when all were
merry, the palace was set on fire, and the Egyptians were
burned to death. Muhammad ‘All promptly sent a third
expedition into the Sfidan, and punished the people for the
death of his son, and a terrible massacre took place at Shendi.
In 1822 the modern town of Khartum was founded. In
1834 Khurshid Pasha conquered the Abyssinians at the Battle
of Sennaar, and thus the whole of the Sudan was “ Egyptianized.”
Muhammad ‘All was disappointed with the Sudan, because it
did not yield gold enough for his needs, and the chief results
of his invasion were the destruction of the ivory trade, caravans
ceased to exist as business concerns, and the slave trade flourished
as it had never done before. In 1841 a serious revolt at Kasala
was quelled by Muhammad ‘All’s troops, and the Sudan was
divided into the provinces of Fa-Zogli, Sennaar, Khartum, Taka
(Kasala), Berber, Dongola, and Kordofan. Sa‘id Pasha visited
the Sudan in 1856, and carried out a number of valuable
reforms ; above all he reduced taxation on irrigation, and
abolished the collection of taxes by soldiers. He was in
favour of evacuating the Sfidan, and only gave up the idea at
the earnest entreaties of the shekhs. In 1865 another revolt
broke out at Kasala, and when it was suppressed by Mazhar
Pasha the Sudani soldiers who had garrisoned the town
were sent to Egypt. In 1870 the copper mines of Hufrat an-
Nahas, in the Bahr al-Ghazal, were seized for the Government
by Helale, a native of Dar Fur. Between 1869 and 1873 Sir
Samuel Baker led an expedition to the Upper Nile intending
to suppress the slave trade, and to bring the countries south of
Gondokoro under the rule of Egypt, to introduce navigation
on the great Equatorial Lakes, and to foster trade and to
open up new trade routes. He succeeded in establishing a
number of fortified posts, and prepared the way for Egyptian
rule :he was the first Englishman to fill a high post in the
service of the Khedive. In 1874 Munzinger Bey annexed
778 THE SUDAN —HISTORY.
Senhit, on the Abyssinian frontier. In 1874 Colonel Gordon
was appointed Governor of the Equatorial Province, and in the
following year Zuber Pasha began the conquest of Dar Fur,
and Harar, in Abyssinia, was annexed to Egypt. In 1876 war
broke out between the Egyptians and Abyssinians ; the latter
were victorious, and made prisoner Hasan Pasha, the Khedive’s
son. In 1877 Colonel Gordon was made Governor-General of
the Sudan, and he suppressed a revolt in the Dar Fur province,
and another in the Bahr al-Ghazal. The latter revolt was
headed by Suleman, the son of Zuber Pasha, and he was
captured by Gessi Pasha, who had him shot ; Zuber laid his
death at Gordon’s door, and a very large proportion of the
troubles which fell upon the Sudan subsequently were stirred
up by him because of his hatred for Gordon personally, and for
the power which he represented.
In 1881 Muhammad Ahmad, better known as the
Mahdi, declared himself. At the time the Sudan, under the
rule of Egypt, was a tract of country about 1,650 miles long
and 1,400 miles wide. It extended from Aswan to the
Equator, and from Dar Fur to the Red Sea. In 1884 General
Gordon was sent to arrange for the evacuation of the Sudan,
and to suppress the slave trade on his way up to Khartum
;
he declared his mission, and by so doing practically sealed

his own fate. He was besieged in Khartum in April of the
same year, and in August Great Britain determined to send a
relief expedition. “ A forlorn hope of British soldiers is led
“ the longest and the hardest way round to the goal, along
“ the line of greatest resistance but struggles manfully and
:
“ heroically against heavy odds, until —

it really is too late
“ Khartum succumbs, and English chivalry loses its noblest
‘ ’
!
“ representative.” General Gordon was murdered on

January 26th, 1885, a little Early in 1896
before sunrise.
the reconquest of the Sudan was decided upon. On June 7th the
Battle of Ferket was fought 1,000 Dervishes were killed
:
or wounded, and 500 were made prisoners. On August 7th,

1897, the Dervish garrison at Abu Hamad was attacked by the
Egyptians, and out of its 1,500 defenders 1,300 were killed or
wounded. On April 8th, 1898, the Battle of the Atbara
was fought, and the Dervish loss was 3,000 killed, and 2,000
were taken prisoners. On September 2nd the Battle of
Omdurman was fought ; the Dervish loss was 11,000 killed,
16,000 wounded, and 4,000 were made prisoners. On Septem-
ber 4th the British and Egyptian flags were hoisted at Khartum,
—
THE St^DAN — HISTORY. 779
and a memorial service for General Gordon was held there; on

the 19th the Egyptian flag was hoisted at Fa-Shoda. On
November 24th, 1899, General Sir F. R. Wingate pursued the
Khalifah to Umm Dabrekat, and after a fierce fight, in which
the Dervishes lost 1,000 men killed, the Khalifah seated himself
upon a sheepskin, and died with his Emirs, riddled with bullets.
The death of the Khalifah was the death blow to Mahdism.
The cost of the Dongola campaign in 1896 was 7 2 5,641 ;
of the Wadi Halfah-Khartum Railway Ê. 300,000, and of the
military operations which resulted in the reconquest of the Sudan
Ê.1,328,713, in all Ê.2,354,354. The agreement as to
the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in the Sudan was signed in
Cairo, January 19th, 1899, by H. E. Boutros Ghali, and Lord
”
Cromer. This Agreement declares that the word “ Sudan
means all the territories south of the 22 nd parallel of latitude ;
that the British and Egyptian flags shall be used together, both
on land and water, throughout the Sudan, except in the town
of Sawakin, wherein the Egyptian flag alone shall be used ; that
the supreme military and civil command in the Sfidan shall be
vested in one officer, termed the “ Governor-General of the
Stidan ” ; that the jurisdiction of the Mixed Tribunals shall
not extend, nor be recognized for any purpose whatsoever, in
any part of the Sudan, except Sawakin ; that the importation of
slaves into the Sudan, as also their exportation, is absolutely
prohibited, etc. The “ Capitulations ” are not in force in the
Sudan, and there are no foreign Consuls.
The Egyptian Sudan is bounded on the north by the 22nd
parallel of north latitude, on the south by the Lado Enclave
and east of the Nile by the 5th parallel of north latitude, on
the east by the Red Sea and Abyssinia, and on the west by a
line running through the Libyan Desert (defined by the Anglo-
French Agreement of March, 1899), by Wadai, and by the
watershed between the Congo and Shari on one side, and
the Nile on the other (Gleichen, Handbook vol. 1, p. 1).
,
Its
greatest length is 1,250 miles, its greatest width is 1,080
miles, and its area is about 1,006,000 square miles. Its capital
0 0
is Khartum, 15 36' north latitude, 32 32' east longitude.
The Sudan is administered by a Governor-General assisted
by Mudirs, or Governors of Provinces, Inspectors and Assistant-
and by native Mafinfirs.
Inspectors,
For administrative purposes the Sfidan is divided into
fourteen Provinces, eight first class, and five second. These
are:
—
780 THE SUDAN —HISTORY.
First Class.
1. Dongola
(Donkola). Capital Marawi. Its other chief
towns are New Dongola, Khandak, Dabbah, and Kurti.
2. Berber. Capital Ad = Damar. Its other chief towns
are Rubatab, Berber Town, Berber District, and Shendi.
3. Khartum. Capital Khartum. Its other chief towns
are Omdurman and Wad Ramlah.
4. Sennaar. Capital Sengah. Its other chief towns are
Wad Madani, Ruseres, Dindar, Dar Fung, and Abu Na‘amah.
5. Fa=5h6da (Upper Nile, or Kodok). Capital Kodok.
Its other chief towns are Renk, Tawfikiyah, and Sobat.
6. Bahr al = Ghazal. Capital Waw. Its other chief towns
are Mashra ar-Rik, Dem Zuber, Shak Shak, Tong, Awrumbik,
£
or Urumbik (Rumbek) and Shambi.

7. Kordofan. Capital AUObed (Al-Ubayyad). Its other
chief towns are Bara, Duwem, Khurshi, Nahud, Tayyara,
Tandik, and Dillin.
8. Kasala. Capital Kasala. Its other chief towns are
Kadaraf and Kallabat.
Second Class.
1. Half ah. Capital Half ah. Its other chief towns are
Kosha and Dulgo.
2. Blue Nile. Capital Wad Madani. The chief towns
are AbuDulek, Kamlin, Rufu‘ah, Masallamiyah, and Managil.
3. White Nile. Capital Duwem. Its other chief towns
are Katenah, Kawah, Gadid, etc.
4. Mongalla. Capital Mongalla. This province was
formed of the portion of the old Upper Nile Province which
0
lies south of north latitude 7 30'. It was created on January
1st, 1906.
5. Red Sea Province. Capital Sawakin. Chief towns,

Tokar and Port Sudan.
Besides these may be mentioned the semi-independent
kingdom of Dar Fur its present king is ‘All Dinar, who pays
;
an annual tribute to the Sudan Government. Its capital is

Al = Fashar.
The population of the Sudan before the Dervish rule
was estimated but at present (1911) the Governor-
at 8,525,000,
General of the Sudan thinks that it cannot be more than
2,600,000. The populations of the provinces and large towns,
etc., were in 1903 :
—
THE SUDAN — HISTORY. 781
Prior Loss under Dervish Rule.

to Present
Province.
Dervish Population.
Rule. Disease. Warfare.
Balir al-Ghazal 1,500,000 400,000 700,000 400,000

Berber 800,000 450,000 250,000 100,000
Donkola 300,000 110,000 80,000 110,000
Gazirah 550,000 275,000 125,000 150,000
Wddt Halfah 55, ooo 12,000 13,000 30,000
Kasala 500,000 300,000 120,000 80,000
Khartum 700,000 400,000 210.000 90,000
Kordofan 1,800,000 600,000 650.000 550,000
Sennaar 1,100,000 500,000 450,000 150,000
Sawakin (town) 20,000 4,000 5.500 10,000
Sawakin (Arabs) 300,000 100,000 1 50,000 50,000
Kodok 900,000 300,000 450,000 150,000
Total 8,525,000 3,451,000 3,203,500 1,870,000
Of the total population of 1,853,000 persons in 1909, 2,787

were Europeans, and 8,209 Abyssinians, Indians, Egyptians, etc.
The natives of the Sudan may be roughly divided into
1. Tribes of Hamitic descent. —
These are represented by
the dwellers in the Eastern Desert, e.g., the Bisharin, the
Hadanduwas, the Halangas, ‘Ababdah, Ummar‘ar, Beni ‘Amar,
“Anaks,” etc. 2. Tribes of the Nubas, or Barabara.
These live between the First and Fourth Cataracts, and have
very dark, or black, skins, but are not Negroes; they are akin
to certain tribes in the Nftba Mountains, in the Southern
Sudan. Like the tribes of the Eastern Desert, they have
intermarried freely with Arabs, Turks, and Negroes. Their
principal divisions are Danakalah, Mahass, men of Sukkit,
men of Halfah, and the Kanuz. 3. Arabs, namely, the
Shaikiyah, Munasir, Rubatab, Miragat, Ga‘alin, Fung, Hamag,
Shukriyah, Humran, Kababish, the Bakkarah, or cattle-owning
tribes, etc. 4. Pure Black Tribes, e.g., the Shilluk, Dinka,
Nuwwer, Bari, Madi, Shulla, Latftka, Makarak, Ganki, Banku
(Bongs), Kfilft, GCir, Agar, Niam-Niam, the Faratit tribes, etc.
5. Negroid Tribes.— The Fflrs, Birkad, Dago, Barti, Medub,
etc. The Negro and Negroid tribes have in all ages pro-
duced slaves, and the Arab and Hamitic tribes have usually
supplied the merchants who trafficked in them. From time
immemorial natives of the Arabian Peninsula have entered the
— ;
782 THE S^DAN— HISTORY.
Sudan in the east, and settled down in fertile places as oppor-

tunity offered. After a.d. 640 large numbers of Arabs entered
the Sudan via Aswan, and Arab immigrants were many after
the conquest of Egypt by Salim in 1517.
Religion. —
The greater number of the inhabitants of the
Sudan are Muhammadans. The religion of Muhammad came
into the Sudan from Egypt by way of Nubia, from Arabia by
way of Sawakin and Masawa and from North Africa byway of
4
the desert road from Tunis to Dar Fur and Kordofan. The
Negro tribes are heathen, and in some places worship many
strange objects. Among these belief in witchcraft and fetishes
is universal.
Language.— The commonest language in the Sfidan is
Arabic. The Barabara who live between the First and Fourth
Cataracts speak a language to which the name Nubian has
been given ; four or five dialects of it are now distinguished.
The tribes of the Eastern Desert speak a language which
Almkvist calls 44 Tu Bedawiya,” and it probably belongs to the
old Hamitic group. The Negro tribes have a number of
dialects peculiar to themselves. In ancient Egyptian times
hieroglyphics were used in Nubia, and inscriptions in Egyptian
were written in them. After the introduction of Christianity
into Nubia as the official religion, Greek was used, and all the
service books were in Greek. The language of the Meroitic
Inscriptions is thought to be Hamitic.
—
Revenue. The revenue of the Sudan is derived from
taxes on land, date-trees, boats, animals, houses, and roads
from royalties on gum, ivory, feathers, and india-rubber ; from
tribute from nomad tribes ; from sales of Government land,
salt, etc. ;from Customs dues, ferries, licenses, court and
market fees, fines,, rent, stamps and telegrams, and trans-
port (steamers and railways) ; and from an annual contribu =
tion by the Egyptian Government (Ê.360, 000 in 1910).
The land tax is paid in money or in kind when paid in kind
;
44
it is called “Ushur,” i.e., tenth,” one-tenth of the crop being
taken by the authorities. The land tax in 1910 amounted to
Ê. 137,960. The Customs duties are (1) an ad valorem :
duty of 8 per cent, on all imports; (2) an ad valorem duty

of 1 per cent, on all exports.
The revenue of the Sudan was in 1910 about
Ê. 1, 168,000, and the expenditure Ê. 1,343,300. The
following figures illustrate the growth of the revenue since the
re-occupation of the Sudan in 1898 :
;
THE SUDAN— HISTORY. 783
j£E.
1898 35 >°°° I9°5 665,000
1899 126,000 1906 ... 8l8,000
1900 156,000 1907 ... 976,000
1901 242,000 1908 ... ... 979,000
1902 270,000 1909 ... ... 1,042,000
1 9°3 462,000 1910 ... ... 1,168,000
r
9°4 576,000 1911 ... ... 1,195,000
(estimated).
The total volume of trade has increased from
Ê. 1,983,500 in 1909 toÊ. 2, 325,800 in 1910, and the exports
have increased 40 per cent. Two new products of commercial
value have been discovered, the oil seed Senat and the nut of
the Diim Palm the latter is now worth Ê.io a ton. In
1910 about 68,000 sheep and cattle were exported. Some
64,700 kilog. of ivory were exported. The sources of
revenue in 1910 were: Land taxes Ê. 137,960, Date tax
Ê.19,300, Animal tax Ê.51,160, Tribute Ê.21,780,
Royalties £E. 50, 580, Timber and firewood Ê.31,160,
Miscellaneous Ê.60,560, Customs £E. 70,000, Steamers
Ê. 142,600, Post and Telegraphs Ê.52,500, Railways
Ê.391,700, Agriculture Ê.2000, Legal Department
Ê.7,700, General Central Services ^'E. 2 2,000, Other Services
41, 300, Local Provincial Services Ê.66,000 Total;
£E. 1, 168,300. The revenue from the provinces has reached

Ê.372,500, as against Ê.335,000 in 1909 and Ê.293,000
in 1908. Area of land cultivated = 1,953,200 feddans;
the figures for the two previous years were 1,263,800 feddans
(1908) and 1,764 feddans (1909) respectively. The profit on
the railways in 1910 was Ê. 123,432 number of passengers
;
carried 335,000, as against 247,000 in 1909. About 91,205

tons of merchandize were carried in 1910 as against 43,405
tons in 1908. About 2,310 kilometres of track were cleared,
and 71 new wells opened in 1910. Exports were in value
jQE. 978,000, as against Ê. 265,000 in 1906 and £E. 674, 000
in 1909. The value of the cotton and cotton seed
exported was Ê.231,000 in 1910. Slavery; the
professional slave dealers and raiders, finding that their
trade becomes more dangerous every year, and that the
Government are serious in their intention to destroy the
business, are gradually abandoning it. To transport slaves is
now a very risky and difficult matter, and only the most devious
routes can be used, for the British Inspector is ubiquitous.
784 THE SUDAN — HISTORY.
Moreover, the natives are beginning to realize that the slave
punishable by law.
traffic is Domestic slavery must necessarily
linger on for some years, but the natives will soon find that paid
servants are cheaper than slaves, and then it will die a natural
death. The slavery department needs more inspectors, especially
near the Abyssinian frontier.
Justice. —The greatest care is taken by officials in the Sfidan
that the law shall be administered without fear and without
favour, and the method of procedure in a matter of criminal
inquiry and as to arrest is borrowed from the Indian Code
of Criminal Procedure ; that at the hearing is that of an
Egyptian (or, substantially, of a British) court-martial. Magis-
trates and judges have two classes of people to deal with, the
negro and the Arab. As an illustration of the caution with
which the principles of European criminal justice have to be
applied Mr. Bonham-Carter quotes the following case. It
appears that a man called Kwat Wad Awaibung was tried on
the charge of murdering Ajak Wad Deng, and having pleaded
guilty he added: “The murdered Ajak Wad Deng owed me
“ a sheep, but would not pay me. He said he would show
“ me his work, and next day my son was eaten by a crocodile,
“ which was, of course, the work of Ajak Wad Deng, and for
“ that reason I killed him. We had had a feud for years, as I
“ was a more successful hippopotamus hunter than he was, and
“ for that reason he was practising witchery over me and my
“ family.”
Early in 1910 the bridge across the Blue Nile, which joins
Khartum North with Khartiim itself, was opened. At the end
of the year the bridge across the Nile at Rabak was completed,
and the line from Sennaar was extended across the Gazirah to
Kosti on the White Nile. It is intended to push on the line
to Al-Obed, which will be reached in 1912. On the death of
King Leopold II the Lado Enclave was taken over by the
Sudan Government, and thus 17,000 square miles were added
to the Province of Mongalla, and 50,000 people to the
inhabitants of the Egyptian Sudan. The transfer was com-
pleted at Yei on the 16th June. To meet the expenses
connected with the effective occupation, Egypt increased her
contribution to the Sudan military expenses by Ê. 45, 000.
Small armed expeditions were sent against certain sections of
the Atwat tribes in the Bahr al-Ghazal, against the Mek of
Tagri and the chiefs of the Katla hills, against raiders from
beyond Dar Fur, against certain chiefs near Talodi, and
THE SUDAN HISTORY. 785
against the Nuwwers, who attacked a police post at Dak

Fadiat. Fanatics in Berber and Sennaar were also suppressed.
Raids were made by Abyssinians into Sennaar in order to obtain
slaves, and in May the gallant traveller, Boyd Alexander, was
murdered at Nyeri, the capital of Dar Tamah. The Church
Missionary Schools at Atbara, Khartum, and Omdurman are
flourishing, and the American and Austrian Missions are
obtaining satisfactory results. Good progress is being made
with the Austrian stations at Lul and Tonga. In the Muslim
Courts 6,918 cases were heard. The marriages registered
were in number 12,165, an d the divorces 7,258. Eight new
mosques were opened during the year. On April 18th, 1911,
a factory was opened for the production of the new fuel,
which is called Suddite and is made from the vegetation which
,
forms the Sadd, or Sudd. This fuel is described in The Times

of November 30th, 1910.
GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF THE SUDAN.

Osman Bey 1825 Muhammad Bey Rasikh... 1862
Maho Bey 1826 Musa Pasha Hamdi ... 1863
Khurshid Pasha 1826 Ja‘far Pasha Sadik ... 1865
Ahmad Pasha Abu Udn... 1839 Ja‘far Pasha Mazhar ... 1866
Ahmad Pasha Al-Minikli 1844 Mumtaz Pasha ... ... 1871
Khalid Pasha 1846 Ismafll Pasha Ayub 1873
‘Abd al-Latif Pasha ... 1850 Gordon Pasha 1877
Rustam Pasha 1851 Ra‘uf Pasha ... ... 1879
Ismafll Pasha Abu Gebel 1852 ‘Abd al-Kadar Pasha ... 1882
Salim Pasha 1853 ‘Ala ad- Din Pasha ... 1883
‘AH Pasha Sirri 1854 Gordon Pasha 1884
‘All Pasha Sharkas ... 1855 Kitchener Pasha ... ... 1899
Arakil Bey 1857 Wingate Pasha ... ... 1899
Hassan Bey Salamah ... 1859
786
IV.— WADi HALFAH TO KHARTUM.

The traveller wishing to visit Khartum from Wadi Halfah
may do so by two routes (i) He may either travel thither direct
:
by the Wadi Halfah-Khartum Railway, or (2) he may ride to

Kermah through the Batn al-Hagar, and proceed by steamer
from Kermah to Kasingar at the foot of the Fourth Cataract,
by horse or camel to Abu Hamad, and thence to Khartum by
the main line. The distance by the former route is about
575 miles, and by the latter about 950 miles. A glance at
the map will show how much time and distance are saved by
the Sudan Railway, which, in going direct to Abft Hamad,
cuts off the great bend of the Nile between Korosko and
Abu Hamad ;
on the other hand, the travellerwho goes direct
to Khartum from Wadi Halfah will see nothing of the temples
and other remains which still stand in certain parts of the
Cataracts, and at Kurru, Ziima, Gebel Barkal, Nuri, etc.
Wadi Halfah to Abu Hamad by the Desert RaiL
way, which is 232 miles long, was begun on May 15th, 1897,
and reached Abu Hamad on October 31st of the same year the ;
average daily progress was about 1^ miles, but 3^ miles were

made in one day early in October. The gauge is 3 feet 6 inches.
The line was laid by Lieut, (now Sir P.) Girouard, R.E., Lieut,
(now Col.) E. C. Midwinter, R.E., and other officers, during
the summer, through an unmapped and waterless desert, and
the work was so well done that trains carrying 200 tons of
stores and supplies, drawn by engines weighing, without tender,
50 tons, could travel over it in safety at the rate of 25 miles
per hour. The survey camp was always six miles in advance
of railhead, the embankment party, 1,500 strong, followed at
the average rate mentioned above, and the plate-laying party,
1,000 strong, came next. One section of the last party
unloaded the sleepers, and another laid and spaced them, a
third party adjusted them, a fourth party fixed and spiked the
rails, and a fifth party levelled the line with levers. This
done, the engine and train advanced, and so kept supplies of
material at hand for the workers in front, whilst gangs of
men behind straightened, levelled, graded, and ballasted the
line. The camp moved forward about six miles every four
days, and rations and water were supplied from Wadi Halfah.
Every 20 miles a loop siding was made to allow trains to
pass each other, and each station had a station master, two
t l s’Jl-p
7 '
*q ^ *
^KS p
\mX
\ (k
* |C| z
>; \f
\
# UyLfi ..
—
THE SUDAN RAILWAY. 787
pointsmen, and a telephone clerk. Between Wadi Halfah and

Abii Hamad the line rises about 1,200 feet. The stations are
ten in number, and the various sections of the line may be
thus described :
—
Wadi Halfah to No. 1 17 miles, up-hill the whole way.
—
No. 1 to No. 2 19 miles, with short up-gradients.
i, 2 „ 3—19
>> 3 4—22 „ >5. >>
» 4 „ 5— 26 „ 1 1 miles level, the rest steep and curved

„ 5 „ 6—23 ,, all down hill.
„ 6 „ 7—22 „ slight down gradient.
„ 7 » 8—24 „ fairly level.
>> 8 ,, 9—27 ». slight down gradient.

? ) 9 ,, 10 (Junction)-—13 miles, irregular, with curves.
,, 10 to Abu Hamad —
18 miles.
At No. 4 two of which yield water
station are three wells,
from a depth of 90 feet, and a reservoir was made there ; at
No. 6 station are two wells, 84 feet deep, which join each
other, and there is no reservoir. The water is pumped up by
Worthington pumps. At other places in the desert small
supplies of water were found, but they were too highly charged
with mineral salts to be used in the engine boilers. From
No. 6 a narrow-gauge (2 feet) railway runs to the gold mines in
the Eastern Desert. Nos. 2, 4, 6, and 9 are coaling stations,
but all coals had to be brought up from Alexandria. The
sight of a locomotive, or “ steamer on wheels,” as the natives
call it, hauling its tender, and water tanks, and a long row
of trucks piled up with 400 tons dead weight of railway material
across the desert at night, and breathing forth fire and smoke
like a genuine ‘Afrit in the Arabian Nights, impressed the
imagination of the dwellers in the desert with the idea of
Lord Kitchener’s “ magic ” more than did the British soldier.
When the first locomotive reached Berber, many of the natives
hastened to touch its oily and dusty tender, believing it to
possess magical powers, and some of them declared that the
touch had cured their ailments There are no antiquities
!
in the desert between Wadi Halfah and Abu Hamad.

—
The W&di-Halfah Kermah Line (gauge 3 feet 6 inches) was
begun in 1877 by the Khedive Isma‘H, who had the rails laid as far
as Sarras, a distance of 33 miles, and it was continued by the British
to Akashah, 55 miles further south, in 1884. In 1896, when the
reconquest of the Sudan was ordered by the British Government,
Lord Kitchener determined to carry the line on to Kermah, at the
head of the Third Cataract, a distance of 201 miles. It was found
that the original piece of line had been badly laid that the Dervishes ;
had torn up 55 miles of it, and burnt the sleepers and twisted the
rails;
that only two engines were capable of moving and that ;
3 D 2
788 THE SUDAN RAILWAY.
practically an entirely new line from Wadi Halfah to Kermah would

have to be built. This wonderful work was done in 13 months by a
few young Royal Engineer officers under Lieut, (now Sir Percy)
Girouard, R.E. On March 21st the Sirdar ordered the advance by ;
June 4th the line was working to Ambukol Wells, 68 miles from
Wadi Halfah on August 4th it reached Koshah, 108 miles from
;
Wadi Halfah and on May 4th it reached Kermah, 201 miles from
;
Wadi Halfah. Of the 13 months occupied in its construction, five

had been almost wasted want
of engines and material, and in
for
repairing the damage caused by rain storms, and meanwhile, at
intervals, the Sirdar, Lord Kitchener, fought and defeated the
Dervishes at Ferket (June 7th) and elsewhere, and reconquered the
Donkola province. The working expenses of the Kermah line were
in 1903 £E. 18,000, and the receipts were only £E. 11,000, of which
over Ê. 5,000 were on account of the Government. As the line
had been lightly laid, and any idea of rebuilding it was out of the
question, owing to lack of funds, the Government decided to close
the line to general traffic in 1904. The portion of it from Koshah
to Kermah (95 miles) had been laid by the British with new rails,
and it was further decided to take these up and send them over to
the Atbara, for use in the construction of the Nile- Red Sea Railway.
This was accordingly done, and now the section from Halfah to
Koshah is only used for administrative purposes.
After a few miles the train enters a very rocky gorge in the
mountains on the east bank of the Nile, at the foot of the
Second Cataract. Every here and there glimpses are caught
of little patches of cultivated ground on the banks of the river,
and (in European eyes) of the miserable huts in which the
natives live. At mile 7 the famous rock of Abusir is passed ;
at mile 8 is Abkah, or Amkah, which was the advanced post
of the Dervishes in 1886. At mile 11 are the famous old
Xllth dynasty fortresses built by Usertsen TIT, the conqueror
of the Sudan ; one stands on the bank and the other on an
island in the river. A little to the south a large town was
situated in ancient days. A few miles further on is Gamai,
which was a Dervish base at that time. At mile 33 is Sarras,
from which place the Dervishes raided the country round ; it
was taken and re-occupied by the Egyptian troops at the end of
August, 1889, shortly after the crushing defeat of the Dervishes
under Wad* an-Nagumi at Tushkeh (Toski) on August 4th. At
mile 40 is the Semnah Road station, close to the Island of
Gazirat al = Malik, where are remains of an ancient Egyptian
fortress that dates from the time of the Xllth dynasty. Here, in
1905, Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself excavated a small temple on
the top of the hill, and obtained the stele of Usertsen III, and
other antiquities which are now in the museum at Khartum.
* Wad = Weled, i.e., “ son of.”
;
SEMNAH AND KUMMAH. 789
At mile 43 is the Cataract of Semnah here the river is ;
about 430 yards wide. On the top of the west bank (300
feet high) is an Egyptian fortress of the Xllth dynasty, and
on the top of the east bank (400 feet high) is an Egyptian
fortress of the same The fortress on the west bank is
date.
called Semnah, and on the east bank Kummah. Here
that
were found inscriptions dated in the eighth and sixteenth years
of the reign of Usertsen III, who conquered Nubia as far south
as this point, and made stringent laws to regulate the entry of
the Nubians into the territory newly acquired by Egypt it ;
seems that only traders and merchants were allowed to bring

their boats north of Semnah. Of special interest also are the
series of short inscriptions which mark the levels of the waters
of the Nile during the inundations in a number of years of the
reign of Amenemhat III, to whom tradition assigns the con-
struction of Lake Moeris. These inscriptions show that at that
time the river level during the inundation was about 2 6 feet higher
than it is at the present time, and they seem to indicate that
Amenemhat III set to work in a systematic manner to
endeavour to understand the effects upon the agriculture of
Egypt caused by inundations of varying heights. The ruins
at Semnah and Kummah are of considerable interest from
many points of view, and especially because they represent
buildings which were primarily fortresses of great strength. The
two buildings, that of Semnah on the left bank and that of
Kummah on the east bank of the Nile, occupy positions of
extreme strategical importance, and when well garrisoned must
have formed a formidable obstacle to the progress north of the
raiding river tribes. Inside the fortifications at Semnah are
the ruins of a temple which was founded by Usertsen III, and
restored by Thothmes III and Amenophis III ; it consisted of
a single chamber measuring about 30 feet by 12 feet, with an
extremely plain front. In 1905 Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and
myself discovered here and excavated a temple which
Tirhakah built in honour of Usertsen III, the first conqueror
of Nubia. The inscribed rectangular altar was in situ .
Inside the fortifications at Kummah are the ruins of a

larger temple which date from the period of Thothmes II
and Thothmes III.
The now finds himself journeying through the
traveller
mountainous district called the Batn al-Hagar, i.e., the “ Stone
Belly/’ and a more terrible desert it would be difficult to find
blackened rocks and bright yellow sand meet the eye in every
79a temple of amarah.
direction, and the heat and glare in the afternoon even in the
winter months are very fierce.
After passing the Atiri, Ambukol, and Tangur Rapids,
and the hot sulphur spring at Ukma, the village of ‘Ukashah
is reached at mile 85. Here the
railway touches the river. At
‘Ukashah (Akasha) (mile 88), an
action was fought between 240 of
the Egyptian Cavalry and the Der-
vishes, on May 1st, 1896 ; the Egyp-
tians routed the Dervish force of
1,300 men, 300 of whom were
mounted, and killed 18 and
wounded 80. At mile 98 is Dal
Cataract, where the fall is about
5 feetGebel Dal on the east is
;
1,973 feet high. On an island in

the Cataract is a Turkish fortress.
At Ferket, 107 miles from Wadi
Halfah, a famous battle was fought
on June 7th, 1896. The Sirdar
(Lord Kitchener) attacked the Der-
vishes at 5 a.m., killed and wounded
about 1,000 of them, including 40
amirs, or chiefs, and took 500
prisoners, his own loss being 20 killed
and 80 wounded ;
the battle was over
in two hours. The Second Cataract
begins at Ferket. At Koshah
(mile 1 Captain Fenwick
1 3), died
and Surgeon-Captain Trask, in July,
1896. At Ginnis (mile 115), the
Dervishes were defeated on Decem-
ber 30th, 1885. On the Island of
Sai, about 130 miles from Wadi
Halfah, are the remains of a small
temple with inscriptions of Thoth-
mes III and Amenophis II, and a
number of grey granite pillars from
a Coptic church, on which are cut the Coptic cross. Opposite
to the north end of the island, on the east bank, are the ruins
of the Temple of Amarah, The foundations are of brick,
but the columns, eight in number, are of sandstone, and are
TEMPLE OF SOLEB (sULB). 791
32 feet in diameter. The temple measured about 54 feet by

30 feet, and the doorway, which had a column on each side,
was 19 feet wide. It was built by an Ethiopian queen whose
pyramid-tomb is at Meroe, on the top of the hill behind
Bagrawir. Portions of the pillars of this temple were
standing in 1905, when I visited the site for the second
time, but I am informed by Mr. Green that no trace of them
is now to be found. It is clear that in this case, as in
many other cases, the natives have destroyed the remains for
the sake of the stone which they contained.
Near Kueka (mile 135), on the east bank, is the famous
Kubbat Idris, or Tomb of Shekh Idris, a distinguished
follower of the great Shekh Morghani, who flourished in the
early years of the XIXth century. This tomb is visited by
thousands of people from all parts of the Stidan, and women
come there to pray for children. The Kubbah is a solid
structure of stone and mud bricks from 70 to 80 feet high, and
it stands in a most picturesque situation near the river. The
dome and stages of the building are its most characteristic
features. The canopy which covered the Shekh’s grave was
carried off by the Dervishes. At mile 142 is Sadenga,
where there are the ruins of a temple built by Amenophis III
in honour of his queen Thi, and a broken statue. A little to
the north, on the east bank of the Nile, is Suwardah, which
became the Sirdar’s advanced outpost after the Battle of
Ferket. Close to Sadenga is the imposing Kubbat Salim,
or Tomb of Salim, another follower of Shekh Morghani and
an exponent of his doctrines. From Kubbat Idris and
Sadenga Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself brought a number of
antiquities which are now in the museum at Khartum. Six
miles to the south of Sadenga is Gebel Dush (Doshah), a
mass of sandstone in which was hewn a tomb in the reign
of Thothmes III ; the spot is extremely picturesque. One
mile further south is Sulb, or Soleb, near which are
the remains of a large and magnificent temple which
was built by Amenophis III ; they are the best preserved
ruins of a temple, and undoubtedly the most interesting of
all the ancient Egyptian remains south of Semnah. The
Egyptian name of the city of Sulb was Menen-en-kha-em-maat,
ft, and the temple was built there to com-

memorate the king’s victories over the Nubians, many of the
names of the tribes of which are found inscribed on its
79 2 TEMPLE OF SESEBI
walls. The temple was approached through two pylons. The

court between the two pylons measured about 70 feet by
45 feet, and contained six columns ; the second pylon, 167 feet
wide, was approached by steps. The second court measured
about 90 feet by 113 feet, and a colonnade ran round all four
sides ; the columns, 28 in number, are 6^ feet in diameter.
The sanctuary was approached through two hypostyle halls, the
second of which measured 78 feet by 113 feet, and contained
32 columns 5! feet in diameter. Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and
myself made excavations in front of the main doorway of this
temple in 1905, and the altars, etc., which were found there
are now in the museum at Khartum.
Almost opposite the railway “ triangle ” at Dulgo, about
19 1 miles from Wadi Halfah, on the west bank of the Nile, lie
the ruins of the Temple of Sesebi, which bear inscriptions of
Seti I, about 1370 b.c. At mile 203 is the Kaibar (or
Kagbar) Cataract, and at mile 231 the village of Hannek is
passed. The village of Abu Fatma marks the boundary
between the Provinces of Halfah and Dongola. On the Island
of Tom bos, near Kermah, and on the banks of the river, at the
head of the Third Cataract, 201 miles from Wadi Halfah, are
grey granite quarries, in one of which the two statues, now
lying on the Island of Arko, were quarried; nearly 80 years
ago Mr. Hoskins saw lying here a broken statue of the same
material 12 feet long. Kermah, at mile 246, was the
terminus of the railway. Between June and March a
steamer runs every fortnight between Kermah and Marawi.
Al = Hafir, about two miles to the south of Kermah, on the
left bank of the river, is famous in Anglo-Egyptian annals as
the scene of the action between the Egyptian artillery and gun-
boats and the Dervishes on September 20th, 1896. The
Dervishes had made along the river a long line of shelter
trenches, with loopholed mud walls, and they had five small
guns, which were well worked by ex-gunners of the Egyptian
army. The Sirdar’s gunboats, Tamaai Abu Klea and
, ,
Metammeh attacked the forts the Egyptian artillery kept

, ;
up a strong fire, but it was the fire from three batteries of

artillery and a Maxim battery, which were landed on the Island
of Artaghasi, that silenced the Dervish guns. On the Island
of Arko (the north end is 252 miles from Halfah), which is
about 20 miles long, are two grey granite statues, which,
together with the pedestals, must have stood about 24 feet
high they seem not to have been finished.
;
One is broken,
DONKOLA. 7931
and the other has lost part of an arm. Lepsius assigned

the statues to Hyksos period, but this is clearly im-
the
possible ;
and there
is no reason for doubting that they
belong to the period when the Nubian kingdom of Napata or
of Meroe was flourishing. From their positions it appears
that they were set up in front of the temple, the ruins of
which lie close by, after the manner of the colossal statues of
kings that were placed before the pylons of temples in Egypt.
The temple which stood on this island must have been of
considerable size. On the right bank of the Nile, near Arko,
at Karman, are the ruins of a very large town, and in the
necropolis are the remains of two rectangular mud-brick tombs
which in Lepsius’ day measured 150 feet by 66 feet by 40 feet,
and 132 feet by 66 feet by 40 feet respectively ;
they are called
Dafufah and Karman.
Al-Urdi, or New Donkola, a little over 280 miles from
Halfah, on the west bank of the Nile, was re-occupied by
Egyptian troops on September 23rd, 1896. In the Western
Desert, at no great distance from the town, are large quantities
of salt deposit. During the revolt of the Mahdi this town,
under the rule of Mustafa Yawar, who doubted the divinity of
the Mahdi, remained loyal for a long time, and its people
actually defeated the Dervishes at Kfirta (Korti) ; finally,
however, it was compelled to submit to the rebel, and the loss
of the Donkola Province was a serious blow to Egypt. The
town was large and prosperous, but, like every place which fell
under Dervish rule, was destroyed. The old town lay 2 miles
south of the modern town. Seven miles to the south are the
ruins of a small Egyptian temple, which was discovered and
partially excavated by Colonel the Hon. J. Colborne in 1885.
At mile 291 is Lebab Island, where the Mahdi was born.
Khandak marks the site of an ancient Egyptian town, and the
ruins of several churches prove that there was a flourishing
Christian community here in the Coptic period. Christian
remains are also found at Firgi, Khalewa, Amentogo, Arab Hag,
to the south of Khandak. At Arab Hag an obelisk inscribed
with the name of Piankhi was found.
Old Donkola is situated on the east bank of the Nile, and
is 351 miles from Halfah. At the present time it is simply a
deserted town, filled with the ruins of mud-brick houses, and
containing about 30 able-bodied men. The people belonging
to it usually live on a little island in the Nile close by, and on
the western bank. It is built on a rocky height overlooking
;
794 AL-DABBAH.
the river and the Eastern Desert, and has always been of
great strategic importance, from its commanding position.
The current is very strong here, and the steamer in which the
writer passed it in September, 1897, with difficulty made
one mile in an hour. At the end of the first half of the sixth
century a.d. the Christian king Silko, who defeated the
Blemmyes, adopted the town as his capital. Abu Salih
describes it as a large city, and says that it “contains
“ many churches, and large houses, and wide streets. The
“ king’s house is lofty, with several domes of red brick, and
“ resembles the buildings in Al-‘Irak and this novelty was
;
“ introduced by Raphael, who was king of Nubia, a.h.
392,
“ i.e., a.d. 1002.” The Nubians are said to have been star-
worshippers, and the first who was converted to Christianity
was Bahriya, the son of the king’s sister, who built many
churches and monasteries in Nubia, some on the river banks,
and some in the desert. The northern frontier of Nubia was
at Aswan, which was said to be distant a journey of 40 days,
and was called Maris, a name derived from two ancient
Egyptian words meaning the “ south land.” The south wind
iscommonly called “ Marisiyah,” as belonging to the south.
The king of Nubia had dominion over Makurrah and ‘Alwah.
The Mosque at Old Donkola was dedicated to the service of
God a.d. 1317 it stands in a prominent place, and commands
;
the country Abu Kussi, 356 miles from Halfah,

and the river.
is the starting point of the great Kordofan and Dar Fur caravan
road. AI = Dabbah (Debbeh), 371 miles from Halfah, originally
a small village, was turned into a fortified place by the
Turks; at this point the Nile is 750 yards wide. Dabbah
is the starting point of the direct caravan road to Omdurman.
Kurta (Korti), 416 miles from Halfah, on the west

bank of the river, was the headquarters of Lord Wolseley’s
expedition to rescue General Gordon in 1884 ; nearly all the
forces were concentrated there on Christmas Day of that year,
and the withdrawal from the place began in March, 1885.
From this point on the Nile to Matammah is a distance of
176 miles. Water is first met with 37 miles from Korti or
Ambukol, and 18 miles further on are the Wells of Al-Huweyat
100 miles from Ambukol are the Gakdul Wells, which are
situated in one of the spurs of the Gebel Gillif range. The
wells are water-worn basins at the bottom of a granite gorge,
and the largest of the pools measures 180 feet by 30 feet the ;
water is sweet. At the distance of 150 miles from Ambukol

NAPATA. 795
are the Wells of Abu Klea (Abu Talih),and 18 miles further

on is the Well of Shabakat, which 12 feet in diameter and
is
50 feet deep. At Kurru, Zuma (east bank), and Tankasi

(west bank), 10 miles from Marawi, are the remains of
7 to
large groups of pyramids, but the stone casings have been
removed by many generations of Muhammadans for building
their tombs, and for making the foundations of the supports
of their water-wheels. The cores of most of these pyramids
were built of mud bricks, but in each pyramid field are the
ruins of at least one well-built step pyramid made of stone.
Marawi (east bank), and Sanam Abu = (west bank), Dom
447 miles from Halfah, mark the site of the ancient
and famous city of Napata, the n ^ Nept, or
/WWV* h f) /WWVA • •
it
C=
W
==3
Nepita, of the Egyptian inscriptions. The
ancient city seems to have been situated on the west bank,

over which, on account of the bend in the river, the sun rises.
It must have been a city of very considerable size, for when-
ever any excavations were made for the purpose of building
block-houses, etc., in 1897, when Sanam Abu-Dom was the
headquarters of the Frontier Field Force of the Egyptian
Army, remains of buildings and portions of large sandstone
columns were generally found at the depth of a few feet below
the surface. Away in the low. hills on the west bank, a few
miles from the river, are the remains of a number of rock-hewn
tombs, and on the east bank, about ten or eleven miles
up-stream from Sanam Abu-Dom, lie the pyramids and ruins
of the temples of Napata. The name Sanam Abu-Dom means
“ the place of the graven image of Abft Dom ” and proves that
there were ancient ruins of one or more temples in the immediate
)
796 GEBEL BARKAL.
neighbourhood. At Marawi, just opposite, are the ruins of

one of the brick and stone forts which are so common in the
country, and a mosque, and close by is a settlement of the brave
Shaikiyah Arabs, whose ancestors several centuries ago came
from Arabia and possessed considerable power in the country.
Next comes the village of Shibbah, and straight ahead is the
striking mountain called Gebel Barkal by the Arabs, and
Tu-ab, & ? the “Holy (or Pure) Mountain,” in
the Egyptian inscriptions. This mountain is 302 feet high, and

is about five-eighths of a mile long ; it is the most prominent
object in the landscape, and can be seen for many miles round.
On the plain by the side of the mountain are the ruins of
The Pyramids and Temples of Gebel Barkal. (Drawn from Lepsius.

A. Temple of Tirhakah. C. Pyramids.
B. Temple of Piankhi. D. Gebel Barkal.
eighteen or nineteen pyramids, and on the crest of the rising

ground are eight more ; they are, however, much dwarfed in
appearance by the huge mass of the mountain. The pyramids
in the plain vary in size from 23 feet to 88 feet square ; those on
the hill vary from 33 feet to 65 feet square, and from 35 feet to
60 feet in height. Before each pyramid there stood a chapel
containing one or more chambers, the walls inside being
decorated with reliefs, in which the deceased was represented
standing in adoration before the gods of the Holy Mountain,
and receiving offerings of incense, etc., from priests and others.
The writer excavated the shafts of one of the pyramids here
in 1897, and at the depth of about 25 cubits found a group
— )
TEMPLE OF TIRHAKAH. 797
of three chambers, in one of which were a number of bones

of the sheep which was sacrificed there about 2,000 years
ago, and also portions of a broken amphora which had held
Rhodian wine. A second shaft, which led to the mummy
chamber, was partly emptied, but at a further depth of 20 cubits
water was found, and, as there were no means for pumping it
The Temple of Tirhakah at The Temple of Piankhi at

Gebel Barkal. Gebel Barkal.
(Drawn from Lepsius. ) • (Drawn from Lepsius.
out, the mummy chamber could not be entered. The principal

ruins of temples are :
1. The Temple of Tirhakah (a). Taharqa, the Tirhakah

of the Bible, was the third king of the XXVth dynasty; he
began to reign about 693 b.c., and reigned over 25 years.
From the excavations which Mr. Hoskins made at Gebel
Barkal, it is clear that four pillars of a porch or portico stood
before the pylon, which was n feet deep and 63 feet wide.
;
798 TEMPLE OF PIANKHI.
The court, which measured about 59 feet by 50 feet, contained

16 columns, eight round and eight square; their diameter was
about 3^ feet, and their height 18 feet. Asmall hypostyle hall
with eight columns led into the sanctuary, wherein was the
shrine of the god and his companions ; on the west side of the
sanctuary is one room, and on the east are two. The total
length of the temple was about 120 feet. The chambers are
decorated with reliefs, in which the king is depicted worshipping
the gods of Gebel Barkal ; many of the reliefs were painted
with bright colours. Since Hoskins and Lepsius were at
Gebel Barkal a huge mass of rock crashed down from the top
of the mountain and did great damage to the ruins of this
temple. Between the temples of Tirhakah and Piankhi are
the ruins of a small temple building which consisted of two
chambers, the first containing four columns, and the second an
altar; about 250 yards to the north of these are the ruins of
the pylon of a temple which was decorated with sculptured
scenes.
2. The Temple of Piankhi (b). at Napata
Piankhi ruled
in the last quarter of the eighth century b.c.,and is famous as
the Nubian monarch who invaded and conquered all Egypt.
His temple, according to the figures of Mr. Hoskins, measured
500 feet in length and 135 feet in width. The first court,
which contained 26 columns about 6 feet in diameter, measured
150 feet by 135 feet; the second court, which contained
46 columns about 5^ feet in diameter, measured 125 feet by
102 feet; the hypostyle hall, which contained 10 columns
about 4 feet in diameter, measured 51 feet by 56 feet; the
chamber leading to the sanctuary measured 40 feet by 28 feet
and the sanctuary, which contained three shrines, probably for
Amen-Ra, Mut, and Khensu, 37 feet by 21-^ feet. The pylon
which divided the two courts was decorated with battle scenes,
processions, and the like. Close in under the hill are the
remains of a temple which seems to have been built and added
to by later Nubian kings, for the reliefs which were on its walls
belong to the class which is found in the island of Meroe,
further south. An idea of the style of the reliefs in this temple
will be gained from the above illustration, which is taken
from Cailliaud's Voyage . Here we see the Nubian king, who
calls himself “ the pacifier of the two lands, king of the South
“ and North, Se-kheper-ren-Ra, the son of the sun, the lord of
“ diadems, Senka-Amen-seken, giver of life, like the sun.” The
prenomen of this king, Se-kheper-ren-Ra, means “Ra createth
TEMPLE OF PIANKHI. 799
name ” (or renown), and his nomen shows that he was a

_
devotee of the god Amen-Ra. He is here depicted in the act

of clubbing the representatives of a number of vanquished
peoples in the presence of the god Amen, who is offering him
a short sword. An interesting collection of stelae containing
inscriptions of Piankhi, Heru-sa-atef, Nastasen, and the texts of
the histories of the Dream, and the Coronation, and the Punish-
ment of Traitors, drawn up for certain Nubian kings, was
found some years ago among the ruins of the great temple of
Piankhi at Gebel Earkal ; all these are now in the museum in
Cairo. The condition of the ruins at Gebel Barkal renders
it extremely difficult to gain any exact idea of the appearance
Senka-Amen-seken, King of Nubia, clubbing his Foes.

(Drawn from Cailliaud.)
of the temples as a whole, but they can never have impressed

the beholder with the sense of massiveness and dignity which
seems to be the peculiar attribute of the great temples of
Egypt. The temple remains at Gebel Barkal are naturally not
to be compared with those of Sulb, but the site is one of great
historic interest, for there is little reason to doubt that the
Egyptian occupation of the country is certainly as old as
the time of the kings of the Xllth dynasty. At Nuri,
or Nurri, 7^ miles from Marawi, on the west bank of the
Nile, are the remains of 35 pyramids, which probably formed
the tombs of the kings and royal personages of Napata.
These pyramids are better and more solidly built than any
8oo PYRAMIDS OF NURI.
others which the writer has seen in the Sfidan, and in very few
cases do their cores consist of anything besides well-hewn
sandstone blocks laid in regular courses. Each pyramid had
originally a chapel in front of its face on the south-east side;,
but every building of the kind has long since disappeared, ancT
there is not an inscription or bas-relief left by which any of
them may be dated. The style of building suggests the Middle
Empire, but only excavations of an extensive character can
decide this question. The remains of two temples are to be
found there, and the ruins of buildings which are found all the
way between Sanam Abu-Dom and Nuri prove that in the
flourishing times of the kingdom of Nubia a great city must have
The Pyramids of Nuri at the foot of the Fourth Cataract.
extended nearly the whole way between these places. The

whole district could, under an honest government, become very
flourishing, but it will need many years to recover from the misery
and desolation caused in the first place by the incapacity, cruelty,
and dishonesty of the officials who represented the Turkish
Government, and secondly by the Mahdi and the Khalifah.
Quite close to Marawi is Karemah, the terminus of the Abu
Hamad-Karemah Railway. The junction from which
travellers leave the main line from Halfah to Khartfim is at No. io
Station in the Abfi Ilamad Desert, about 18 miles from Abft
Hamad. The engineers who surveyed the line found that the
THE FOURTH CATARACT. 801
cost of making a railway close to the river along the right bank
of the Fourth Cataract would, on account of the hilly nature of
the district, be prohibitive, and the line is therefore laid on the
flat desert behind the hills on the river bank. From No. io
Station it proceeds to Dakhfili, a large camping ground close
to the river, opposite Shirri Island,about 70 miles from No. 10
Station, and 75 miles from Marawi. This is the only place en
route where the railway touches the river. The terminus of the
line is at Karemah, 138 miles from No. 10 Station, close to Gebel
Barkal. The line was built by Capt. E. C. Midwinter, R.E.,
Mr. C. G. Hodgson, Mr. G. B. Macpherson Grant, and Mr.
H. V. Hawkins, and was opened on the 8th of March, 1906,
by Sir Reginald Wingate, Governor-General of the Shdan.
From Karemah steamers run at regular intervals to and from
Kermah, between June and March, and thus the produce of the
Donkola Province can now be sent without difficulty to Atbara
and the Bed Sea and to Khartum. Every traveller who can
spare the time should take the opportunity of visiting Gebel
Barkal and the remains of the temples ofPiankhi, Senka-Amen-
seken, and Tirhakah, and the Pyramids of Gebel Barkal and
Nfiri. The ruins of the Christian monastery in the Wadi ab
Ghazal are worth a visit. It is now easy to visit Old Donkola,
and the Island of Arko, where there are statues, and the famous
quarries on the Island of Tombos. The river scenery between
Marawi and Dabbah is lovely, and there is much to interest the
traveller who cares for the Sudan in the now thriving Province
of Donkola. The cost in time and money of paying a visit to
the site of Napata, the ancient capital of the Northern Sud&n,
need not be great, and we may be sure that the authorities,
through their able governor of the province, Colonel H. W.
Jackson Pasha, will afford every reasonable facility. Until the
opening of the Karemah Railway it was not possible to visit the
interesting bend in the river where Marawi lies, without con-
siderable cost and trouble, but now all this is changed, and we
may hope that tourists will be sufficiently numerous to induce
the Government to continue the line to New Donkola, and per-
haps even to Kermah. The closing of the Halfah-Kermah line
will be deplored by all archaeologists, for to all but people with
much leisure and money it practically cuts off the possibility of
visiting Gazirat al-Malik, Semnah, Kummah, ‘Amarah, Sai,
Suwardah, Doshah, Sadenga, Sulb, and other sites where ancient
remains exist. At Beial, or Belial, 7^ miles from Marawi, is the
foot of the Fourth Cataract, which extends to Abft Hamad, a
3 e
802 MAP OF THE Si) DAN RAILWAYS.
—
THE FOURTH CATARACT. 803
distance of 140 miles. A few miles beyond Belal, on the west

bank, are the remains of a Coptic building, part monastery and
part fortress, which contained a church, and opposite Hamdab
Island, about six miles further on, are the ruins of a pyramid.
The journey from Belal to Abu Hamed is difficult, but the
following places in the cataract will always possess interest
for the British. Birti, 5 1 miles from Marawi, the headquarters
of the River Column in the Nile Expedition of 1 884 ; Kirbekan,
59 miles from Marawi, where the British defeated the Dervishes,
February 10th, 1885, and General Earle was killed by a Dervish
who “ sniped ” him from a hut ; Salamat, 90 miles from
Marawi, which was occupied by the British on February 17 th ;
and Habbah, 101 miles from Marawi. On September 18th,
1884, the steamer “ Abbas, ” with Colonel Stewart on board,
was run aground on the west side of the island of Habbah,
and every one of the 44 men on board, except four, was
treacherously murdered by the arrangement of Suleman Wad
Kamr, the shekh of the Munasir tribe. The British troops,
on February 17th, 1885, destroyed the house and palm-trees
and water-wheels of this shekh, and three days later the
property of Fakri Wad Atman, in whose house at Habbah
Colonel Stewart had been murdered, was also destroyed. The
ill-fated steamer was seen tightly fixed on a rock about
200 yards from the river, with her bottom about 20 feet above
low-water level ; she was pitted with bullet marks and rent by
fragments of shell.
Near Abu Hamad, 587 miles from Wadi Halfah by river and
about 232 by rail, is the head of the Fourth Cataract. On
August 7th, 1897, the village was captured by General Sir A.
Hunter, and about 1,200 men of the Dervish garrison there
were slain ; at this battle Major Sidney and Lieutenant Fitz-
Clarence were killed. Abfi Hamad derives its name from a
local shekh who is buried here, and whose memory is greatly
venerated in the neighbourhood, and it owes its importance
entirely to the fact that the caravans which crossed the Nubian
Desert started from it. It is said that any article left at the
tomb of the shekh by a traveller on his departure will be found
there uninjured on his return ! At Abti Hamad are excellent
baths for ladies and gentlemen.
Abu Hamad to Khartum by Railway.

On the railway between Abfi Hamad and Khartum the
traveller will pass the following stations Mashra ad -
:
3 e 2
;
Sg4 BERBER.
Oakesh (mile 248) ;

Abu Dis (mile 267) Sherek (mile 291)
;
Abu Salim (mile 318); Al = Abidiyah (mile 343); and

Berber (North) is reached mile 361.
at For the first 70 miles
the line runs close to the Nile ;
it then turns sharply into the
desert, in which it runs for 20 miles, when it returns to

the Nile bank, along which it runs into Berber. Before
Abu Hamad and Berber were connected by railway the
journey was made partly by river and partly by land, the
reason being that between Nadah, 68 miles from Abfi Hamad,
and Bashtanab the navigation was impeded for four miles
by rocks, and by the Fifth Cataract, which extended from
Umm Hashiyah to Ganenattah, a distance of about 14 miles.
Nedeh is at the foot of the Abu Sinun Cataract, better known
as the Al-Bakara Rapid; the Fifth Cataract is called Shellal
al-Himar, or the “ Cataract of the Wild Ass[es],” and the end
of it is about 88 miles from Abii Hamad.
0 0
Berber (latitude N. 18 F, longitude E. 33 59'), on the east
bank of the river, marks the northern boundary of the country
of the Barabara, which extended as far south as Abyssinia, and
included all the land on the east bank of the Nile between the
Niles and the Red Sea. To this point on the Nile, from very
ancient times, the products of the Stidan, gum, ivory, ebony,
gold, curious animals, slaves, etc., have been brought on their
road to the coast of the Red Sea at Sawakin, and it is probable
that, for many reasons, the Sudan boatmen were not in the
habit of proceeding further north. The country round about
Berber is rich, and was, and still is, with care, capable of pro-
ducing large crops of grain of various kinds, which are sufficient
for the needs of a city of considerable size ; the city, however,
owed its importance, not to the grain-producing qualities of the
neighbourhood, but to its position on the great caravan routes
to and from the Stidan, and the facilities which it offered for
traffic and barter. The distance from Berber to Sawakin is
about 245 miles. Two principal routes are laid down by the
Intelligence Department of the Egyptian Army, but the ordinary
caravan route is via Obak, 57 miles from Berber; Ariab,
hi miles from Berber; Kokreb, 145 miles from Berber;
Dissibil, 200 miles from Berber ; and Tambuk, 219 miles from
Berber. The old town of Berber is described as having
been much like a town of Lower Egypt, with dusty, unpaved
streets, and houses built of unbaked bricks, and having
flat roofs ; in the early years of the nineteenth century
it possessed a few large mosques, and abundant palm and
NILE-RED SEA RAILWAY. 805
acacia trees. Under Turkish rule the town lost much of its
prosperity, and the Dervishes ended what the Turkish officials
began. The new town lies to the north of the old town, and
contained many large, well-built houses, but most of them
have been without tenants for years, and are now in ruins.
Old and New Berber straggle along the river bank for a
distance of six miles. Count Gleichen estimated the population
of Berber in 1897 at 12,000, of which 5,000 were males.
Berber fell into the hands of the Mahdi’s forces on May 26th,
1884, but it was re-occupied by the Egyptian troops on
September 6th, 1897, and a week later General Sir A. Hunter
entered the town with his army. At mile 384 from Halfah is
Atbara Junction, whence travellers can proceed by rail to
Sawakin and Port Sudan.
The Nile-Red Sea Railway. — The history of Egypt
and of the Egyptian Sudan up to the period of the XXVIth
dynasty shows that the greater part of the trading which was
done between the two countries passed up and down the Nile
and along the great desert routes in the Eastern and Western
Deserts. There was no easy outlet for Shdan trade on the
west, and none worth mentioning on the east. There were,
no doubt, ports at the places now called Sawakin and Masawa
{
in the earliest times, and we are justified in assuming that there

was a certain amount of sea-borne trade carried on between
the inhabitants of the mainland and those of the Peninsula of
Arabia. During the rule of the Saite kings many of the
trade routes between Egypt and various parts of the Egyptian
Shdan were revived and developed, and under the Ptolemies
the traffic on them became brisk. Still, so far as we know, no
Ptolemy ever made any attempt to connect the Nile in the

Northern Shdan with the Red Sea by means of a desert route
with wells at comparatively frequent intervals. Both Ptolemies
and Romans followed the example of the earlier kings of
Egypt, and forced all the trade of the Sudan through Egypt.
After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, a.d. 640, immigra-
tion of Arabs into the Sftdan took place on a fairly large scale,
and the new-comers settled down on the Nile and in many a
fertile spot in the Egyptian Shdan. In process of time com-
munication between the Nile and the Red Sea became
frequent, and regular caravan routes were formed. The slave
merchants, who were usually Arabs, exported by their means
slaves from the country south of Kharthm, and imported
stuffs, etc., which they bartered for slaves, gold, gum, etc. In
8c 6 NILE-RED SEA RAILWAY.
15 1 7 we find that Salim, the Turkish conqueror of Egypt,

sent an expedition into the Sudan via Masawa and we know
£
that it invaded Ethiopia, and made its way westwards as far

as Sennaar, where the Fungs had established their capital.
Further to the north there was a caravan route between
Berber and Sawakin, and as the distance between these places
was' not, comparatively, great, being only from 230 to 250
miles, it was the most frequented road between the Nile and
the Red Sea for some centuries. When the Sudan passed
into the hands of Muhammad ‘All, large numbers of his
troops and their officers regularly went to and came from the
Sfidan via Sawakin, and when steamers appeared on the Red
Sea, it was quicker and safer to travel to the Sudan by this
route than by any other. When the Suez Canal was opened
,
in 1869 everyone quickly realized that sooner or later a rail-

way would have to be made between Berber and Sawakin.
Meanwhile more than one Khedive of Egypt was anxious to
connect Cairo with the Sudan by railway, and it is said that
the first to consider seriously the matter was Sa‘id Pasha in
i860. Eleven years later Sir J. Fowler, the eminent engineer,
proposed to build a line from Halfah to Khartum, which
should follow the east bank as far as Amarah, cross the river
£
here, run along the west bank to Ambukol, cross the Bayudah
Desert to Matammah, cross the river again, and so on along
the east bank to the capital. Another line was to run from
Dabbah to Al-Fasher, the capital of Dar Fur, and a third line
was to run from Sawakin to Khartum. About 33 miles of
railway were laid from Halfah to Sarras, and then, after an
enormous sum of money had been spent, the work was
abandoned, partly, it is said, because General Gordon wished
it. The authorities were then, as ever, determined to force
the trade of the Sudan through Egypt, and did not appear
to see that so long as caravans had to traverse some 1,200
miles of desert, no extensive development of trade was
possible. The Cataracts on the Nile between Khartfim and
Upper Egypt render the passage of goods by river most
difficult and expensive, and seeing that Egypt had no real
control over the country south of Aswan, all river transport
was unsafe. In 1885, after the murder of Gordon and the
fall of Khartum, the British Government employed Messrs.
Lucas and Aird to build a line from Sawakin to Berber, but

few miles had been laid the work was abandoned, and
after a
masses of material which were to have been used in its con-
struction lay piled up at Sawakin for years. Nothing further

was done towards connecting the Nile with the Red Sea by
a railway until August, 1904, when work on the present line
began at Sawakin under the direction of Colonel G. B.
Macauley, C.M.G., R.E. Before the laying of the line
began, the authorities decided to make the Nile terminus at
Atbara instead of at Berber, because that point was much nearer
Ad-Damar, the new capital of the Berber Province. They
also determined to make the Red Sea terminus at Shekh
Barghuth, a place between 35 and 40 miles to the north of
Sawakin, because a far better harbour could be made there,
and it is more convenient for large ships than Sawakin, where
navigation at night is almost impossible. The name Shekh
Barghftth means “ Shekh Flea ” The place was called after
!
a chief whose tomb stands on the northern point of the

entrance to the anchorage, which has a depth of from 84 to no
feet it is now known as New Sawakin or Port Sudan,
;
At Sal Lorn, about half-way between Sawakin and Port Sftdan,

is a junction, and from it one branch line runs south to
Sawakin, and the other north to Port Sudan.
Port Sudan.
British Vice-Consul, B. W. Echlin.
At Port Sudan, the east of the harbour is devoted to commercial
quays, coal depots, and customs’ enclosure, and behind these are
reserved sites for shipping offices and stores. The town proper
lies to the west of the harbour, and here are the Government build-
ings, barracks, schools, prison, hospital, post and telegraph offices,
etc. The quarantine station is to the south of the harbour. At
present the quays are over 2,000 feet in length, and the depth of
water alongside is about 30 feet at dead low water. Five large
ships can be berthed. The mechanical equipment consists of five
electric gantry cranes, six electric capstans, two coal berths, four
coal transporters, one coal rehandling bridge, and 300 tons of coal
can be dealt with per hour. The quays and workshops are lighted
by electricity, and the rolling lift bridge and all machinery are
worked by electric power. A dockyard has been built, also a slip-
way. The total expenditure on the port and town of Port Sudan
has been Ê.914,000. The entrance to the port is two cables (1,200
feet) inwidth, with an approach varying in depth from 40 to 70 feet.
The harbour is lighted at the entrance by a dioptric light (3rd order),
occulting every 10 seconds, and visible 14 miles at sea ;
in the
narrow part of the entrance is a dioptric light (5th order), showing
a red light on the port side and a green light on the starboard side
to vessels entering. The light towers are about 160 and 112 feet
high respectively, and the distance between them is 1,045 yards.
Beacons are placed on the outlying reefs, and vessels can enter the
port by day or by night without danger. Port Sudan was opened
by H.H, the Khedive on 1st April, 1909.
8o8 NILE-RED SEA RAILWAY.
From Sawakin the line runs north, and then ascends a very
hilly plateauabout 3,000 feet high, which runs parallel to the
coast. It then strikes in a south-westerly direction across
the desert to the Atbara, which it reaches about 20 miles from
the junction of that river with the Nile. From this point it
follows the course of the Atbara until it reaches the Wadi
Halfah-Khartum about a mile north of the iron bridge
line,
(Atbara Junction). The total length of the line is 331 miles,
and there are 25 miles of sidings ; the line was laid on the
telescopic system. The steepest gradient is 1 in 100, and
the sharpest curve 5 degrees. The cost of the line was

;£E. 1,37 5,000, or about Ê.4,150 per mile of main line.
Work was begun at both ends simultaneously, that at Atbara
being under the direction of Major E. C. Midwinter, D.S.O.,
R.E. At the Sawakin end much blasting of rock had to be
done, and the wash-outs which took place in the hills here
were heart-breaking. Drinking water had to be distilled from
sea-water, every ton of which was carried in tanks into the
desert. Scarcity of labour was another difficult matter.
Colonel Macauley ihired numbers of Arabs from the neigh-
—
bourhood of Sawakin, and set them to work, but these men

preferred brigandage or robbery to manual labour, and as
they could not be induced to do the earth work of the line
they had to be sent away. A few Abyssinians were employed
in bridging, but the bulk of the work on the line was done by
the Nubians of the Nile Valley, and the fellahin from Egypt.
The Egyptian cannot be surpassed as a labourer. Systematic
work on the line began in October, 1904, and on October 15th,
1905, the first train from Halfah entered Sawakin. A few
weeks later the state of the permanent way made it possible
to run through trains at regular intervals, and from
January 1st, 1906, a bi-weekly service of trains was established ;
it was formally opened on January 27th at Port Sfidan. The
line, it is true, passes through a desert, from which little traffic
is to be expected, but it is important to remember that it will
tap all the fertile districts of the Stidan. The produce of the
Donkola Province will be brought to the main Halfah-Khartum
line by the branch which runs from Karemah, near Gebel
Barkal, to No. 10 station in the Abft Hamad Desert, and it
will find its outlet at Sawakin via Atbara. From the south
will come the gum, cotton, and cereals of Dar Fur, from the
east the products of the Blue Nile and Kasala Provinces.
Port Sfidan and the railway are open on equal terms to the
trade of all the world. There are no differential rates or duties
to favour the trade of any one nation.
The following are the stations on the line :
Port Sudan ... 84 kilometres from Sawakin.

Asotribu 19 ,, „ Port Sudan.
Sal-Lom Junction ... 39 33 >3
Sawakin.
Handub 21 „ ,, Sawakin.
Sal-Lom Junction ... 45 3 3 3 )
Obo ... 57 , ,
Port Sudan.
Kamobsana ... 75 33 33
Erba ... 98 33 33
Gebeit ... 1
15 33 33
“Summit” ... 139 33 33
Barameyu ... 158 33 33
Erheb ... i 79 33 33
Thamiam ... 198 ,, 33 33
Einha ... • •• 225 33 33
Shidieb... ... 250 33 33

Talgwareb ... 266 33 33
Musmar ... 299 33 33

Rogel ... ... 324 33 S 3
..
8 io THE RIVER ATBARA.
Togni ... ... 340 kilometres from Port Sudan.

Zehteb ... 372 a a
Ogren . . 3^8 ,, j j i i
Dogaia . . 420 ,, >> if

Hudl ... ... 452 >> ,,
Zullot . . 4^8 >> >> 5 i
Atbara Junction ... 486 ,, i f
The River Atbara,* or Mukran, the Astaboras of Strabo,

which flows into the Nile on the east bank, is at this point
about 450 yards wide, and in the rainy season has a depth of
water in it which varies from 25 to 30 feet. It brings down the
entire drainage of Eastern Abyssinia, and its principal tributaries
are the Setit, Royan, Salam, and Ankareb Rivers ;
it carries
into the Nile more soil than any other of the Nile tributaries,
and the dark brown colour of its waters has gained for it the
name of Bahr al-Aswad or “ Black River.” For more than
150 miles before its junction with the Nile its bed is perfectly
dry from the beginning of March to June, and the late
Sir Samuel Baker says that “ at intervals of a few miles there
“ are pools or ponds of water left in the deep holes below the
“ general average of the river’s bed. In these pools, some of
“ which may be a mile in length, are congregated croco- . . .
“ diles, hippopotami, fish, and large turtle in extraordinary

“ numbers, until the commencement of the rains in Abyssinia
“ once more sets them at liberty by sending down a fresh
“ volume of water.” The rainy season begins in Abyssinia in
May, but the torrents do not fill the bed until the middle of June.
From June to September the storms are terrific, and every
ravine becomes a raging torrent, and the Atbara becomes a
vast river. “ Its waters are dense with soil washed down
“ from most fertile lands far from its point of junction
“ with the Nile masses of bamboo and driftwood, together
;
“ with large trees and frequently the dead bodies of elephants

“ and buffaloes, are hurled along its muddy waters in
“ wild confusion.” The rains cease about the middle of
September, and in a very short time the bed of the Atbara
becomes a “ sheet of glaring sand,” and the waters of its great
tributaries, though perennial streams, are absorbed in its bed
and never reach the Nile. The velocity of the Atbara current
is so great, and its waters so dense, that in flood it forces the
water of the Nile across on to the western bank. The railway

is carried over the Atbara by means of an iron bridge. A
* All the vowels are short in Amharic the name is pronounced Atbara.
;
;
THE RIVER ATBARA. 8l I
contract for the reconstruction of the bridge carrying the Sudan

Government railway over the river Atbara was placed in March,
1910, with the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company
(Limited), of Darlington, who have completed the large road and
railway bridge over the Blue Nile at Khartum, and are engaged
upon the railway bridge over the White Nile at Goz-Abu-Guma.
The Atbara bridge, the contract for the steel superstructure of
which was placed with the Pencoyd Ironworks (A. and P.
Roberts) of Philadelphia, U.S.A., in 1899, is 1,052 feet long be-
tween the end piers, and consists of seven spans, each measuring
147 feet from centre to centre of end pins of trusses. In the new
structure the old cross-girders and stringers are used, but the
main girders have been renewed. The new main girders have
been accommodated to the old bearings, which rest on cast-iron
cylinders and could not be removed, and they have been built
so as to suit the old cross-girders, which have an overall length
of 15 feet 3^ inches. The web members of the new main
girders have a width of 1 foot, and the new spans a total
width of 15 feet 4^ inches, centre to centre of main girders.
There is provision for the attachment at some future time of
sidewalks, on both sides of the bridge, supported on brackets.
The contract included the building of a temporary bridge to
carry the deviation of the railway across the river, and this
structure was capable of carrying the main-line traffic of the
SCidan Government railway system. The work was begun in
December, 1910, and the new bridge was completed by
May 31st, 1911, in time for use before the flood season of the
Atbara river. The Battle of the Atbara was fought on
April 8th, 1898, at a place called Nakhilah, about 37 miles from
the junction of the river with the Nile, on the right bank. The
Dervish force numbered about 14,000 men, and of these about
3,000 were killed and wounded, and 2,000 were made prisoners.
The Anglo-Egyptian loss was 5 officers and 78 men and
killed,
475 officers and men wounded; large numbers of swords,

spears, rifles, 100 banners, and 10 guns, fell into the victors’
hands, and Mahmfld, the Dervish general, was captured.
Having crossed the Atbara the traveller now enters the
country which Strabo (xvii, 2, § 2) calls the Island of Meroe
the name “ island ” was probably given to it because it is,
generally speaking, bounded by the Atbara, the Nile, and the
Blue Nile. Strabo says that its shape is that of a shield, and
goes on to mention that it is “ very mountainous and contains
great forests ” ;
but from this statement and the fact that he
)
8l2 ISLAND OF MEROE.
speaks of the “ mines of copper, iron, gold, and various kinds

of precious stones/’ we may conclude that he is referring to
the country south of Khartum. Of the early history of the
country nothing is known, and the statements made by Greek
writers about its peoples and their manners and customs must
have been derived from the garbled traditions left by ancient
Egyptian officials who travelled to the south, and perhaps from
merchants who were not well informed, and soldiers who were
quartered in Nubia. The name given to the chief city of the
Island by the Egyptians is Marauat, ,
or Beruat,
« I
The Largest Group of Pyramids at Meroe. These are the nearest to

the river. (Drawn from the plan of Lepsius.
whence the name Meroe clearly is derived.
The last determinative indicates that the town was built

in a mountainous and lends support to Lepsius’ deriva-
district,
tion of the name from a Berber word merua or meraui “ white ,
rocks,” “ white stones.”

A little above the mouth of the Atbara, on the right bank,
are the ruins of the once flourishing little town of Ad-Damar,
which was famous, like Marawi near Gebel Barkal, as a seat of
Muhammadan learning. The modern town has a railway
station, and is 392 miles from Halfah. It is now the capital
CITY OF MEROE. 813
of the Berber Province. From this place to Shendi the

east bankis flat and covered with a thick growth of scrub,
thorn bushes, and halfah grass, which have swallowed up every-

thing, and the strip of cultivable ground is of considerable
width ;
on the west bank the ground is also flat, and the strip
is less wide. Here and there ravines, or “ khors,” run back
from the river, and in flood time these are filled with rushing
torrents. The whole district bears emphatic testimony to the
results of the misgovernment of the Turkish Governors-General,
and the rule of the Dervishes. When the writer first visited
the neighbourhood in 1897-98 there were hardly any people
to be seen, no cattle existed, only here and there was a water-
wheel at work, and only here and there a few sheep or goats
were found ; the gazelles in the desert were almost as numerous
as the sheep. Not a donkey could be obtained for many miles,
and the very dogs had been exterminated by the Dervishes.
Scores of houses in each village were empty and desolate, and
at the sight of them the traveller might wonder what would
have been the fate of Egypt at the hands of the Dervishes,
whom some described as “brave men fighting for their
independence.” Zedab (404 miles), 'Aliab (416 miles),
Muhmiyah, or Mutmir (429 miles), and Kabushiyah
(448 miles).
At a distance of about 40 miles from the mouth of the
Atbara, we reach the district of Bagrawir, which substantially
marks the site of the City of Meroe. The site was correctly
located by Cailliaud in 1820-21, and he marked its position
accurately on his map of the Sudin which was published in
1827. A portion of the site, namely, a part of the temple of
Amen and several houses, was excavated by Ferlini and
Stefani in 1832-34, and Erbkam (1842-45) made a scale
map of the ancient town which was published by Lepsius in
the Denkmaler (1849-59). I n I 898 and 1899 the writer
went over the site with the map of Lepsius, and had the sand
cleared away from some of the stone rams of the temple of
Amen. He again went over the site in 1900 with a view of
making excavations along the temple wall, but the plan had to
be abandoned because labour was not to be had. In 1906-8
the natives began to dig out the ruins of the temples of Meroe
in searching for antiquities, and in 1909 Mr. John Garstang
and Professor Sayce began to excavate the site systematically.
The following brief notes are derived from the account of their
work which was published early in 1911. The ruins of the
*
814 CITY OF MEROE.
great Temple of Amen lie between the villages of Bagrawir

and Keyek, about half a mile from the river on the east bank.
In front of this temple stood a kiosk 14 metres long and
ie 50 metres wide; its walls were of stone, with rounded
angles. There was a doorway in the west wall, and probably
one in the east wall when the building was made. In the
interior of the building were three pairs of brick pedestals, on
which rested round, stone columns the pedestals were breast
;
high, like the walls. This kiosk had open sides and ends.
About 2 1 metres to the west of the kiosk are the remains of
the great pylon of the temple. The first hall contained
24 round pillars, and was about 64 metres long and 20 metres
broad the south side was splayed out towards the west end.
;
In the centre of this hall were the ruins of a small building

dating, apparently, from the time of Queen Amentarit and
Netek Amen. The entrance through the second pylon led to
a small court with eight columns resting on brick bases ;
the
third pylon led to a court with six columns, and beyond this
was a room with four columns, two on each side. A square
altar stood by the side of each column on the left. The main
sanctuary lay due west of this chamber, and in it stood a
square altar about 3 ft. 6 ins. high ; by this were found two
votive tablets, and a Cippus of Horns, on which were cut
magical texts similar to those on the Metternich Stele. On
the north side of the sanctuary was a chamber, the door-jambs
of which were decorated with paintings and reliefs. On the
south side of the sanctuary were a second sanctuary and a
chamber, 12 metres by 5 metres, containing eight round pillars,
an altar (north side), and a flight of steps leading to a dais.
Behind the shrines were three small chambers which appear to
have been of a funerary character ; beyond these was a corridor
and a long chamber which was approached by a flight of steps.
The temple was built of brick, was about 135 metres long, and
was enclosed by a temenos wall. In the course of the excava-
tions a number of very interesting objects were found.
To the north of the village of Bagrawir stood, on a mound,
the ruins of a building to which the natives gave the name
Kanisah, i.e., “ Church.” The main part of the building
contained two halls, one having eight pillars and the other
four, and these led to the sanctuary in which stood the altar,
resting on tiles. The length of the building was about
23 metres, and it may have been dedicated to the worship of
Isis. A little to the east of the Temple of Amen are the ruins
PYRAMIDS OF MEROE. 815
of the Lion = temple, so called because of the two lions which

guarded the flight of steps by which its chambers were
approached. The figures of lions found during the excavations
suggest that the building was dedicated to the Lion-god of the
district. The Lion-temple was about 23 metres long, and its
main portion consisted of two square chambers, each containing
two columns which stood on brick bases. Further eastward
still are the ruins of a building which is described as a Sun =
temple. It was about 33 metres long and 22 metres broad, and

was enclosed by a temenos wall. The main entrance to the
enclosure was from the east. Outside the enclosing wall were
two kiosks, and inside a ramp led to the platform, upon which
was built a cloister, running entirely around and enclosing the
sanctuary. The sanctuary was approached by a flight of nine
steps. The floor and sides of this chamber were covered with
plain glazed tiles. At the west end are the remains of an altar.
.
The excavations of the buildings described above have brought

to light a number of very valuable inscriptions in the Mero'itic
and it
character, inscribed altars, pottery of various kinds, etc.,
is one of the sites a large quantity of gold, about
said that in
^£4,000 in value, was discovered by Mr. Garstang during the
winter of 1910-1 1.
The Pyramids of Meroe lie about 2J miles east of the
railway. These pyramids are the tombs of the kings and
royal personages whoreigned over the Island of Meroe in the
capital city, which seemsto have stood near the modern village
of Bagrawir (the Bagromeh of Hoskins), and are also called the
Pyramids of As-Sur. The general arrangement of the largest
group, which is in the plain, about if miles from the river,
is illustrated by the following plan ; nearly all are in ruins,
for the stone casings have been removed by generations of

natives. At no great distance from these pyramids are the
ruins of a temple and the remains of an artificial depression,
which seems to mark the site of the sacred lake of the temple.
The other two groups of pyramids are situated further to the
east, and are built on low hills, the smaller group lying to the
south-east of the larger ; and some of their pyramids are quite
in ruins. The most interesting group is that which is built on
a comparatively high hill, and which at the beginning of the
nineteenth century was in a good state of preservation, as the
plates which illustrate Cailliaud’s Voyage prove. The 29
pyramids of this group vary in size at the base from 20 feet
to 63 feet. In front of each pyramid was a chapel which
)
8i6 PYRAMIDS OF MERGE,
The Second and Third Group of Pyramids at Meroe.

(Drawn from the plan of Lepsius.
PYRAMIDS OF MEROfi. 817
consisted of one or more chambers, the walls of which were

decorated with reliefs, in which kings and queens were depicted
worshipping the local gods and making offerings to them.
There is little doubt that the sites of these groups of pyramids
were used as burial grounds from an extremely early period,
but the inscriptions of the pyramids now standing there show
that they belong to a period which lies between about 200 b.c.
and a.d. 250. Both reliefs and inscriptions prove that, the
Nubians, or Ethiopians as they are often called, were borroivers
from, and not the originators of, the Egyptian civilization, with
its gods and religion, and system of writing, as some following
Diodorus have thought. The royal names found in some of

the -chapels are those of the builders of the great temples at
Nagaa, and others are those which are known from buildings, at
Dakkah, ‘Amarah, and Gebel Barkal. In them also are
inscriptions in the character called Meroitic, which in some
respects resembles the demotic :Lepsius had no doubt
that they were contemporaneous. It is not at present possible
to arrange the royal names of the Nubian or Ethiopian kings
in chronological order, especially as many of them seem to
be peculiar to certain parts of the old kingdom of Meroe,
and it is possible that many of their owners were contemporary.
It is, however, evident that when this kingdom was in its most
flourishing state the rule of its kings extended from the Blue
.
Nile to Aswan.
In 1834 an Italian doctor called Eerlini selected one of
the largest pyramids on the crest of the hill at Bagrawir
(/.£., the one marked F in Cailliaud’s plan, and the most
westerly of the group) and began to pull it down. In the
course of the work an entrance to a chamber was accidentally
discovered, wherein were found a large quantity of jewellery,
boxes, etc., of a most interesting character. This treasure was
not buried, as one would expect, in a chamber below the
surface of the ground, but in a small chamber within the
masonry of the pyramid near the top. Gne good result
attended this lucky “find,” for it became certain that the period
when the jewellery was placed in the pyramid was Roman, and
the inscriptions on the chapel of the pyramid showed that the
queen for whom the pyramid^ was built was the great queen
who is depicted on the walls of the ruins at Nagaa with richly
decorated garments and pointed nails some inches long. The
ill result that followed the discovery was the destruction of
several pyramids by treasure seekers, and Lepsius relates thai
.
3 F
—
8i8 PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
when he was there Osman Bey, who was leading back his army
of 5,000 men from Taka (Kasala), offered him the help of his
battalions to pull down all the pyramids, in order to find
treasure as Ferlini had done. The few natives found by the
writer at would hardly approach the pyramids
Bagrawir
by day, the evening or by night, and the shekh
far less in
Ibrahim, who had been in the employ of General Gordon,
declared that it was “not nice” to intrude upon the “spirits
of the kings who were taking their rest in the mountain.”
Seen from the river at sunset, the western sides of the pyramids
appear to be of a deep crimson colour.
In 1903 the writer excavated a number of the Pyramids of
Meroe for the Governor-General of the Sudan, Sir F. R.
Wingate, and he is convinced that the statements made by
Ferlini are the result of misapprehension on his part. The
pyramids are solid throughout, and the bodies are buried
under them. A
discussion of the evidence will be found in
the first volume of the writer’s History of the Egyptian Sudan.
The following is a brief description of the Pyramids of
Groups A and B :
A. Northern Group.
No. 1. The step - pyramid of Queen Kentahebit
, whose name Lepsius believed to be

the original of the “ Candace ” of classical authors. She was
also called Amen-arit

^ (j
^ The reliefs in
the chapel are of considerable interest, and many of them will

be familiar to the visitor who has examined the tombs in
Egypt. This pyramid is probably one of the oldest of the
group.
No. 2. In a very dilapidated state; the figures on the west
wall of the chapel were mutilated in Cailliaud’s time. Some
of the figures in the reliefs were coloured. The chapel has
been used as a sleeping place by many natives, who have left
graffitibehind them, and some of the stones have been injured
by bees. In front of the door a set of iron fetters was dug
up in 1903, and it was thought that they were of the kind
used by the Dervishes for captives of the better class ; they
are now in the museum at Khartfim. On the outside of the
north wall of the chapel are sculptured some fine figures of
Sudani bulls.
—
PYRAMIDS OF MEROE. 819
No. 3. A pyramid much ruined the chapel ;

is without reliefs
and inscriptions.
No. 4. Pyramid of Amen- -akha :
walls of the chapel are ornamented with reliefs which refer to

the making of funeralofferings, and the performance of
religious ceremonies on behalf of the dead by the Stem priest.
On the north wall, in tabular form, are all the vignettes save
one of the CXLIVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead, and
on the south wall is the Judgment Scene. Over the door
inside is cut in large letters “P.C. Letorzec, 1820 the
name of Cailliaud’s fellow traveller. The king for whom this
pyramid was was a priest of Osiris, and he probably lived
built
during the early part of the Ptolemaic Period.
No. 6. Pyramid of Queen Amen-Shipelta (?)
MAMA
When complete it was
MAAAA
nearly 80 feet high.
£3 x
It was pulled down by Ferlini, an Italian,
who declared that he found in a chamber near the top the
collection of jewellery, one portion of which was purchased by
the Berlin Museum, and the other by the Antiquarium at
Munich. Half-way down, in the middle of the pyramid he
stated that he also found two bronze vessels, with handles, of
very fine workmanship. A
portion of the chapel, with a
vaulted roof, still remains, and on the walls are still visible
reliefs in which the queen who had the pyramid built is seen
wearing a number of elaborate ornaments of curious and
interesting workmanship. On the face of the pylon of the
chapel may still be traced figures of the queen in the act of
spearing her enemies.
< >
No. 7. Pyramid of Murtek ^ , who was
^^ j
J
surnamed Alu-Amen, the ever-living, beloved of Isis.” On
“
the angle-stones of the tenth layer from the ground are cut the
two eyes of Horus, each of which looks toward the chapel
. The walls of the chapel are ornamented with
vignettes and from the
texts Saite, or Ptolemaic, Recension of
the Book of the Dead. 3 f 2
820 PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
No. 8, A large, well-built pyramid; the chapel is buried

under the stones, sand, etc., which have fallen from its top.
No. 9. A large pyramid, the east side of which is in a state
of collapse. The chapel is built of massive stones, but contains
neither inscriptions nor reliefs. It is probable that the
sepulchral chamber beneath the pyramid was never occupied.
No. 10. The pyramid which stood here was removed in
ancient days. Portions of the chapel still remain, and from
these we see that its walls were ornamented with the Judgment
Scene from the Book of the Dead, the weighing of the heart,
and representations of funeral ceremonies.
No. 11. This is the largest sepulchral monument on the
Island of Meroe. The pyramid was about 80 feet high, and
is about 65 feet square, and it is formed of well-cut stones.
The buildings in front of it, which consisted, when complete,

of a forecourt, a pylon, a hall, and a chapel, were about
80 feet long, so that the total length of the monument was
nearly 150 feet. In 1903 the hall and the greater part of
the chapel were cleared out by Captain Lewin, R.F.A., Captain
Drake, R.F.A., and myself, and the rest of the chapel was
emptied in 1905 by Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself. In the
latter year the sculptures from the west wall of the chapel
and other objects were found, and were taken to Khartum.
The north and south walls of the chapel were removed stone
by stone, the former being sent by Sir Reginald Wingate’s
orders to Khartum, and the latter to the British Museum,
where it has been built up at the south end of the Egyptian
Gallery. The reliefs on both the north and south walls of the
chapel are very elaborate, and are the finest examples of
Meroitic funeral sculpture known.
Nos. 12 and 13. The chapels of these pyramids have not
been cleared out.
No. 14. A passage was driven through this pyramid from
the east to the west side, and a shaft cut through it from the
top to the bottom, with the view of proving the impossibility
of sepulchral chambers existing in the pyramids of Meroe, as
those who accepted Ferlini’s statements thought. In 1903 we
found the pit which led to the short corridor by which the
deceased was taken into the sepulchral chamber beneath the
pyramid.
No. 15. The remains of this pyramid were removed in 1903
to test the truth of the assertion that the sepulchral chamber
was placed sometimes behind the chapel. No such chamber
^
PYRAMIDS OF MEROE. 82 I
was found here, and the deceased was buried below his
pyramid, as was always the case. When clearing out the
shaft under the remains of the chapel, we found pieces of a
blue-glazed altar inscribed in the Meroitic character ; these are
now in the museum at Khartum.
No. 16. This pyramid is unlike any other of the group, for
the chapel is within the pyramid itself, its roof being formed
by the stones of the sides of the pyramid, which project
one over the other and so make the enclosed space vault-shaped.
No. 17. Pyramid of a Negro king of Meroe whojyas called
"3 /VNAAAA
/WW\A : . .
www
.
prenomen was
vvaaaa m S3 ;
his
Neb-Maat-Ra The western end of the south
wall, on which is a good representation of the king, where-

from it is clear that he was of Negro origin, was removed to
Berlin by Lepsius.
No. The important and interesting ruin of the pyramid
D
18.
of King Amen - Khetashen The

(?) AAAAAA
}
eastern face, which was standing in 1905, is nearly 40 feet
high, and well-cut figures of the king are to be seen on each
wing of the pylon. The Meroitic inscription which Cailliaud
saw on the “ face principal ” of the building was removed to
Berlin by Lepsius.
No. 19. Pyramid of King Tirikanlat (?)
[s=>| îyz:|î] The reliefs p rove that

its builder was a Negro, and that he slew his enemies in the
traditional manner.
No. 20. A well-built pyramid. Its shaft was excavated in
1903, and the burial place of the deceased found.

No. 21. A
pyramid of little interest. pole projects from A
the platform on the top ; it was probably driven through it by
searchers after the sepulchral chamber, who thought it was
situated at the top of the pyramid.
No. 22. Pyramid of Amen-netek °r

^ f|
^ J
w h° se prenomen was Kheper - ka -
£| ^ sT J ’
Ra His wife was called Amen tant

) 1
822 PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
Q
on an altar
Is]-
which Lepsius removed from
and both their names
Wad Ba Nagaa
are found
to
Berlin.
Nos. 23-26. These pyramids were excavated in 1903.
No. 27. Pyramid of a late king of Meroe called
O MAMA V\>v
/./wwa
y\
whose prenomen was Kheper-
“ Gsu]
l j
Nos. 28-30. Ruined pyramids.

4 (0 (D (Q
No. 32. Pyramid of a queen; her name is wanting.

Nos. 33-36. Ruined pyramids.
Nos. 37-39. (Lepsius’ numbers.) Already described
(Nos. 16-18).
Nos. 40-43. Small pyramids excavated in 1903.
B. Southern Group.
These pyramids lie to the south-east of the northern group.
No. 1. Ruined pyramid. Many of its stones were used in
the construction of the other pyramids.
No. 2. The chapel of this pyramid was not decorated with
reliefs and is in ruins.
No. 3. This pyramid was destroyed in ancient days, and its
chapel is in ruins.
No.
3. 4. Pyramid of Queen Kenreth or
^ :3
r >i
Kenrethreqn /WWVA <C
z
I
Wj I
'
’
her other name was
berren
G a Other names or titles found in the
text
the
are
reliefs
Perui
we
rsn
see
and Ka-nefert
the gods Tat, Thoth, Horus, Anubis,
(SEI- In
Khnemu, and Keb taking part in the funeral ceremonies of

the queen.
No. 5. Pyramid of Queen Asru - meri - Amen
r n
^ 1 AAAAAA H PT whose prenomen was Nefer - ankh -
Sudan
ab-Ra |
foJ + 0 There are few pyramids in the
in which the ancient spirit and character of Egyptian art are

so well preserved
PYRAMIDS OF MEROE 823
No. 6. Pyramid of Arq-neb-Amcn ^

Qj
whose prenomen was Khnem-ab-Ra ( O
No. This pyramid and its chapel are partially ruined.
7.
No. The chapel of this pyramid was pulled down to make

8.
room for No. 9.

No. 9. A complete pyramid, built of well-cut stones, with
a ruined chapel.
No. 10. Pyramid of Kaltela
whose prenomen was Kalka

The other pyramids of this group are in ruins and nothing
useful can be said about them.
C. The third group of pyramids, about forty in number, lies
about a mile to the west of the northern and southern groups.
They are half buried in sand, are unimportant, and many of
them were built of stones taken from the southern group.
D. The fourth group of pyramids, about 112 in number,
lies still farther to the west, on the edge of the desert, near
the cultivable land by the river. Cailliaud called the group the
“ Pyramids of As-Sur ” and Lepsius “ Group C.” They varied
in height from 10 to 60 feet, and the largest of them stood in
walled enclosures. From two of them Lepsius obtained a stele
and an altar bearing inscriptions in the Meroitic character.
Between Kabfishiyah and Shendi the populous village of
Taragmah is passed at mile 460 from Halfah.
Shendi, on the east bank of the river, was once a
large town, containing several thousands of inhabitants, and
possessed a considerable trade with the northern and southern
provinces on the east bank of the Nile. In the year 1820
Muhammad ‘All sent his son Isma‘il Pasha with 5,000
soldiers to conquer Sennaar, and another force of about the
same strength to conquer Kordofan. Ismafil was successful
in his mission, but the year following he was invited by
Nimr, the Nubian governor, to a banquet in his palace at
Shendi, and during the course of the entertainment the palace
was set on fire and the Egyptian prince was burned to death.
Muhammad Bey the Deftardar, son of Muhammad ‘All, at
once marched to Shendi, and, having perpetrated awful
cruelties upon nearly all its inhabitants, destroyed houses
and gardens and property of every kind. Shendi was a
824 MATA M MAH.
Dervish stronghold for some years, but it was re-occupied by

the Egyptian troops on March 26th, 1898. Shendi is the
headquarters of the Sudan Cavalry. New bazaars have been
built, and in a very few years’ time the town will be as
important as it was before the revolt of the Mahdi.
Matammah, on the west bank of the Nile, a few miles
above Shendi, had, in 1885, about 3,000 inhabitants, two or
more mosques, and a market twice a week. In 1897 the Gaalin
Arabs in and about the town revolted against the Khalifah’s
authority, and having fortified the place they awaited the result.
Mahmfid, by the Khalifah’s orders, attacked it on July 1st, and
after a three days’ fight, all their ammunition being expended,
the Gaalin were compelled to submit, for Mahmfid had
surrounded the town with his troops. The victors promptly
slew 2,000 men, and women and children were massacred
mercilessly ;
the prisoners were drawn up in a line and treated
thus : the first was beheaded, the second lost a right hand, the
third his feet, and so on until every man had been mutilated.
The Gaalin chief, ‘Abd-Allah wad Slid, was walled up at
Omdurman in such a position that he could neither stand nor
sit, and was thus left to die of hunger and thirst (Royle, op. cit.,
p. 521). General Sir A. Hunter bombarded the town on

October 16th, 17th, and November 3rd, 1897, and it was
evacuated by Mahmfid in March, 1898.
At mile 483 the station of Al-Goz is passed.
About 25 miles south of Shendi, on the east bank, is the
railway station of Wad Ba = Nagaa, about496 miles from Wadi
Halfah; here is the entrance to the Wadi Ba-Nagaa, and near it is
a little village called Ba=Nagaa. Three miles down the river
are the ruins of a small ancientNubian temple, which, according
to Hoskins, measured about 150 feet in length ; it contained six
pilasters about 5 feet square. The principal remains are two
columns on which are figures of Bes in relief. Here are found
two kneeling statues of Amen-hetep II, which proves that this
king founded, or added to, a temple in this place, and this fact
indicates that the authority of the Egyptians extended over the
Island of Meroe as far as the Blue Nile.
Travelling in a south-easterly direction, and passing Gebel
Buerib, about 25 miles distant, we come to the ruins of
Nagaa these are usually called by the natives of the district,
;
Musawwarat * an-Nagaa, i.e., the “sculptures of Nagaa,” as

TEMPLES OF NAGAA. 825
opposed to the Musawwarat al-

Kirbekan, i.e., the sculptures of Ba-
Nagaa, in the Wadi Kirbekan, and
the Musawwarat as-Sufrah, i.e., the
sculptures of the Wadi as-Sufra.
The ruins consist of the remains of
at least seven temples, and there is
no doubt that they belong to the late
Ptolemaic or early Roman period.
The reliefs here will illustrate how
closely the architects and masons
tried to copy Egyptian models, and
Plan of a small Temple at right

angles to the Large Temple at
Nagaa. (From Lepsius.)
the cartouches show that the kings,

whoever they were, adopted pre-
nomens formed on the same lines
as those used by the old kings of
Egypt. The gods worshipped were
the same as those of Napata and
other Nubian cities, but there are
here in addition to them a god with
three lions’ heads, a god who
resembles Jupiter Sarapis, and a
god, with rays emanating from his
Plan of the Large Temple at head, who is probably a form of
Nagaa. (From Lepsius.)
826 TEMPLES OF NAGAA.
Helios or Apollo. Before satisfactory plans of the temples here

could be drawn, excavations and clearances on a large scale
would have to be made.
Twelve miles from Nagaa, in a north-easterly direction, is a
comparatively small circular valley, which, because it resembles
in shape a circular brass tray, is called As-Sufrah. Here are the
Musawwarat As-Sufrah, or ruins of a group of buildings
enclosed within walls, without inscriptions and without reliefs
Plan of a small Temple near the Plain of Nagaa. (From Lepsius.)
which, according to Hoskins, measured 760 feet by 6C0 feet;

there were no entrances on any side except the north-west,
where there were three. The walls enclosed five or six small
temples, in one of which were several pillars. Cailliaud thought
that the ruins of the main building were those of a school, and
Hoskins of a hospital, while Lepsius offered no opinion ; but it
is useless to theorize until systematic excavations have shown
what the plan of the group of buildings actually was, Close

TEMPLES OF NAGAA. 827
by are the ruins of a small temple with reliefs, on which men

are depicted riding elephants, lions, panthers, and other wild
animals ;
all the ruins in this neighbourhood seem to belong to
the Roman period. A very interesting phase of desert life, viz.,
the watering of the flocks, is to be seen at Bir Nagaa, or
“Well of Nagaa,” which claims a visit. Each tribe has a
place for its representative at the well, and the water is drawn
Plan ot Temples on the brow of the Hill at Nagaa. (From Lepsius.)
up in skins. From Shendi an almost direct route runs to

Nagaa, distance about 30 miles, and there is another to As-
Sufrah, distance about 26 miles.
At mile 51 1 AUMegah is passed. Near Gebel Gari,
524 miles from Wadi Halfah, begins the Sixth Cataract,
commonly called the Shablukah Cataract ;
it begins at the
north end of Mernat Island, on which General Gordon’s
828 THE KHARTUM BRIDGE.
steamer, the “Bordein,” was wrecked on January 31st, 1885,

and extends to Gebel Rawyan, a distance of 11 miles. At
the entrance to the Shablukah gorge, the channel turns
sharply to the east, and is only 200 yards wide; in July the
rate of the current through this channel exceeds 10 miles per
hour. The Dervishes guarded the northern end of the channel
by on the western and one on the eastern bank.
five forts, four
From this point to Omdurman there is little to be seen of
general interest. At mile 538 the station of Rawyan is
passed, and at mile 547 is Wad Ramlah ;
near the latter
place is Geli, where Zuber Pasha has taken up his abode.
At mile 560 is Kubalab. The hills of Kerreri, 7 miles from
Omdurman on the east bank, opposite Gebel Surkab on the
east bank, mark the site of the great Battle of Omdurman,
on Friday, September 2nd, 1898, when the Khalifah’s army was
practically annihilated; on the same day the Sirdar marched
into the city of Omdurman, and the rule of the Khalifah was at
an end.
At mile 575 from Wadi Halfah the station of Halfayah is
reached. Halfayah owes whatever importance it may possess
to the fact that it was the terminus of the railway, for the native
village has always been insignificant. It lies on the right bank
of the Blue Nile, a little above Tuti Island, and is exactly
opposite Khartfim.
The Khartum Bridge. —-The width of the river at this
point is about 1,700 feet. The bridge has seven spans each
218 feet 6 inches in length, with four approach spans varying
from 40 to 80 feet in length. In each of the main spans there
are over 500 tons of steelwork, and, inclusive of the steel in
the cylinders, the aggregate is 5,000 tons. Each span is com-
posed of two main girders of bowstring pattern, the effective
depth at the centre being 34 feet. At the northern end is a
rolling lift span of 100 feet, which is worked electrically. The
bridge has a clear width of 50 feet, and carries one 3 feet
6 inches gauge railway line, one 2 1 feet roadway, and a foot-
path of 11 feet width carried on brackets outside the main
girders. The piers, composed of steel cylinders filled with
concrete, each cylinder having a diameter of 16 feet at the
cutting edge, are carried to an average depth of 60 feet below
low Nile level. The clear headway below rail level is 17 feet
at high Nile and 40 feet at low Nile. The contractors were
the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company (Limited), of
Darlington, who completed the bridge in December, 1908,
KHARTUM. 829

KHARTUM. — Cook’s Office, Grand Hotel (season only).
Post and Telegraph Office on the Embankment.
Churches.— English Church Service in the Sirdar’s Palace. (It is
proposed to consecrate the Cathedral, now being built, in January,
1912.) American Mission. Church Missionary Society. Roman
Catholic Church.
Steam Trams to the steam-ferry, whence Omdurman. (Fare,
1 piastre.) Thence tram to the Great Market.
Excursions (by steamer) Gondokoro and back (23 days), Goz=
Abu-Guma and back (6 days) Soba (J day) also
; ; to Omdurman,
the battle-field of Kerreri, etc.
Khartum stands on the left bank of the Blue Nile, on the

tongue of land formed by the junction of the Blue and White
Niles, just above Tuti Island, which has the Blue Nile on
two of its sides and the White Nile on the third ; its exact
0 0
position is given as lat. N. 15 36', long. E. 32 32'.
Population Khartum City 18,235, Khartum North 35,285.
:
Itwas founded by the sons of Muhammad ‘Ali between 1820

and 1823, by their father’s orders, for he quickly realized the
importance of the site on which it stands as a commercial
centre for the trade of the Gazirah (/.<?., the grain-producing
land between the Blue and White Niles) and of the remote
regions of the Blue and White Niles. The name “ Khartum ”
means an “ elephant’s trunk,” and it may be noted in passing that
the old Egyptian name of the Island of Elephantine off Aswan
was “Abu,” i.e. y “Elephant”; these names were, of course,
given because the site on which Khartum was built and the
Island of Elephantine resembled the trunk and body of an
elephant respectively. Between 1825 and 1880 Khartum be-
came a very flourishing city, and its inhabitants gained much
wealth from the slave trade which was carried on briskly
between the country south of Khartum and Egypt, Turkey,
and other northern countries. The Turkish officials, and most
of the rich merchants, were in one form or another engaged
in the trade, and the Pashas of Egypt were content to look
on quietly so long as gold flowed into their pockets from
the Stidan trade. In 1884 General Gordon went to Khartum
to withdraw the Egyptian garrison, but very soon after the city
was besieged by the Mahdi and his followers, and Gordon’s
position became desperate ; famine, too, stared him in. the
face, for he distributed daily among the destitute in the city
the supplies which would have been ample for the garrison.
On January 15th, 1885, Faragalla, the commander of the
loyal troops in the fort of Omdurman, capitulated to the
\
830 FALL OF KHARTUM.
Dervishes, and the whole of that town received the Mahdi’s

pardon. During the whole of January Gordon continued
to feed all the people in Khartum; “for that he had, no
“ doubt, God’s reward, but he thereby ruined himself and
“ his valuable men. Everyone was crying out for bread, and
“ the stores were almost empty ” (Slatin, Fire and Sword
p. 338). On the night of January 25th, Gordon ordered a

display of fireworks in the town to distract the people’s attention,
and in the early dawn of the 26th the Mahdists crossed the river,
and, swarming up the bank of the White Nile where the fortifica-
tions had not been finished, conquered the Egyptian soldiers, who
DEATH OF GORDON. 831
made but feeble resistance, and entered the town. Numbers

of Egyptians were massacred, but the remainder laid down their
arms and, when the Mahdists had opened the gates, marched
out to the enemy’s camp. The Dervishes rushed to the Palace,
where Gordon stood on the top of the steps leading to the
diwdn^ and in answer to his question, “Where is your master,
the Mahdi?” their leader plunged his huge spear into his
body. He fell forward, was dragged down the steps, and his
head having been cut off* was sent over to the Mahdi in
Omdurman. The fanatics then rushed forward and dipped
their and swords in his blood, and in a short time
spears
the body became “a heap of mangled flesh.” The Mahdi
professed regret at Gordon’s death, saying that he wished he
had been taken alive, for he wanted to convert him. As soon
as Gordon was murdered, “the man who was anxious about the
safety of everyone but himself,” Khartum was given up to
such a scene of massacre and rapine as has rarely been witnessed
even in the Sudan ; those who wish to read a trustworthy account
of it may consult Slatin Pasha’s Fire and Sword in the Sudan ,
p. 344 ff. On September 4th, 1898, Sir Herbert Kitchener

and some 2,000 or 3,000 troops steamed over to Khartum from
Omdurman and hoisted the English and Egyptian flags amid
cheers for Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and the strains of the
Khedivial hymn, and the thunders of the guns from the gun-
boats. The rebuilding of the city began immediately after the
arrival of the British, and the visitor can judge for himself of
the progress made in this respect during the 1 3 years of peace
which have followed its occupation by a civilized power.
The most noticeable building in Khartum is the Palace of
the Sirdar, built by Lord Kitchener on the site of the old
palace, on the steps of which Gordon was speared. The British
and Egyptian flags float over its roof, and two sentries guard its
door, one British and one Sfidani by the wall on each side
;
stands a 40-pounder siege gun, which was brought up to shell

Omdurman. In the Palace Gardens the visitor should note
the stone Ram, which was brought from Soba, a few miles up
the Blue Nile on the right bank. It is a fine figure of the
animal which at a very early period was regarded as the form
in which the Nubian Amen became incarnate. A mile or so
upstream is the Gordon Memorial College, a stately edifice
which stands on the left bank of the Blue Nile in the suburb
of BClri. It was designed by Fabricius Pasha, and the works
were carried out by Colonel Friend, R.E. It was opened by
832 GORDON MEMORIAL COLLEGE.
Lord Kitchener on the 8th November, 1902. The director

isMr. James Currie. It contains 1. Department of Manual
:
Training and Technical Instruction, which was fully equipped

at the expense of Sir William Mather, and the Beauchamp
Bequest has since been devoted to the extension of the Work-
shops. 2. An efficient analytical and bacteriological laboratory
equipped with all the necessary apparatus at the expense of

Mr. Henry Wellcome. 3. A Primary School and Boarding
House. 4. A Training College. 5. A Military School.
The directer of the bacteriological laboratory is Dr. Andrew
Balfour, who is devoting his life to the investigation of the
causes of malaria, sleeping sickness, etc., and of all the
diseases which afflict man and beast in the Sudan. Under his
direction are issued from time to time reports which describe
the work done and contain scientific papers on Shdan diseases,
medicine, magic, ethnography, religion, etc., and are absolutely
invaluable to every student of African peoples, both past and
present. A great deal of nonsense has been talked about what
the Gordon College ought to do, and complaints have been
made that its general curriculum is too utilitarian, but, as Mr.
Currie says, it is essential for people to remember the character
of the people with whom he is dealing. -‘A people whose
“ only ideal of higher education for centuries has consisted in
“ the study ot grammatical conundrums and arid theological
“ and metaphysical disputations, surely needs the lesson that
“ all truth apprehended intellectually must first and foremost
“ be honoured by use before it can benefit the recipient.” It
is quite clear that the work of the College as an educational
power, both from a theoretical and practical point of view, is

proceeding on the right lines, and the great success already
achieved speaks volumes in praise of Mr. Currie’s prudent,
judicious and cautious management of the great Institution
which has been committed to his care. The plan on which he
works, and the policy behind it, and his difficulties, are well
illustrated by the following remarks taken from his Report ,
dated 30th June, 1910

The College has felt the strain of existing financial
difficultiesvery keenly, and the rate of progress forward
has hardly been maintained this year. The large new
Primary School was completed in December, 1909, and
will be in partial occupation in October next. The greater
part of the Primary School will be housed therein, but it has
not been found possible completely to separate the Primary
— ;
GORDON MEMORIAL COLLEGE. 833
School from the College, and the existing system must continue
for a year at least. —
Neither a still greater disappointment
is the provision of a Secondary School of the ordinary
literary type any nearer to realization than it was last year.
It has been even found impossible to complete the nucleus of
one which existed, and out of which, according to the
approved scheme, it is hoped that one will grow. The
curriculum of the English Training College, which ought
this year to have been extended over four years, has been for
the present restricted to three, and the four boys who composed
the third year have been drafted off to work in the Primary
Schools. They are intelligent lads, and their presence will be
very welcome there, but beyond all question they would have
benefited much from another year of school life. Even that
would only have turned them out well-qualified “pupil
teachers/’ and, as it is, they will certainly suffer from having
begun the work of their lives at a rather immature age. And
if fourth year could only have been provided, a proper
this
Secondary School could have been called into being at not
very much additional expense. It is quite certain that the
Government can never hope to staff its civil services satis-
factorily such an institution has been at work for some years.
till
Apart from the obvious desirability of employing natives of

the country, Mr. Currie holds that, even from the most strictly
material standpoint, the Government is in the long run put to
more expense by its high wages and special pension rates than by
the maintenance of a Secondary School, even on a generous scale.
But it would be ungrateful of him if he did not admit that the
Government had helped him to the full extent of its resources.
Turning to the various educational units which taken
together compose the Gordon College, Mr. Currie speaks of
the Primary School, which has been attended by 190 pupils
the Training College — vernacular and English —
by 178, of
which 150 belong to the vernacular side; and the upper school
for the training of engineers and surveyors by 28 students.
One hundred and seventy-two are on the roll of the instructional
workshops. There is, he remarks, no doubt whatever about
the popularity of the Military School among the inhabitants
of the country, both Arab and Sfidani. Some 20 young men
have now received commissions in the famous Black Battalions,
or in the new Arab levies now being raised. They have
almost all been well reported on. He understood that the
responsible Army authorities propose to increase this school
3 g
§34 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
substantially, and to render it capable of holding twice the

present number of cadets, which may be adduced as a practical
proof that they consider the results satisfactory so far.
Mr. Currie, discussing the life of the school as a whole,
says the games have been particularly successful. Football
—
has flourished the college eleven had had a very good season
--the only important match lost being that against the full
strength of the third battalion of the Coldstream Guards, who
had represented the British Army of Occupation up there
that season. A suitable summer game had at last been hit on
in the shape of rounders, on which the boys are extremely
keen. He would like particularly to express his gratitude to
the officers of the Coldstream Guards for the very warm
7
interest they have exhibited in the boys games. By next year
it is hoped that the College will be provided with a running
track, and yet another excellent form of exercise will be avail-

able. The Museum in the Gordon College is well worth a visit,
for the exhibits are arranged in a clear and instructive manner.
Worthy of special note are the objects connected with Gordon,
ue ., the manuscript history of the Taeping Rebellion, the
specimens of the paper money which he issued, the litho-
graphic stones from which his proclamations were printed, etc.
A beginning, too, has been made in forming a collection of
Egyptian and Meroitic antiquities which have been found in
the Sudan. An interesting object in the town is the Statue of
General Gordon, which has been set up in a prominent
place in a main thoroughfare. It is a copy in bronze of the
famous statue made by the late Mr. Onslow Ford for the
Mess of the Royal Engineers at Chatham.
The Mosque which has been built by the Government at
a cost of over Ê. 8,000 is a fine building, and is the largest
in the Sudan. The Zoological Gardens, which are under
the direction of Mr. Butler, are not yet fully developed, owing
to want of funds, but a good beginning has been made, and in a
few years’ time we may hope to see a thoroughly representative
collection of Stid&n animals and birds living here in comfort.
—
Climate. The three hottest months of the year are April,
May, and June ; the three most pleasant months are August,
September, and October. The coolest month of the year is
January; the north wind blows from November to April.
Thunderstorms occur at intervals from May to October.
The town of Umm Durman, or Omdurman, is situated
on the west bank of the Nile, about 200 miles south of the
;
khalifah’s house. 835
Atbara, and five miles from Khartum, from which it is reached

by steamer or by a steam ferry ; it straggles along the river for
nearly six miles, and the southern part of it, the oldest, is
nearly opposite Khartum. About [792 it was a small village
inhabited by brigands, and was of no importance till after the
fall of Khartum on January 26th, 1885. General Gordon
built a fort there, which was called “ Omdurman Fort,” and
was under Faragallah Pasha, and this, together with the fort on
Tuti Island, formed the chief external defences of Khartum. After
the fall of Khartum the
Mahdi settled here and gave
to the place the name “Al =
Buk‘ah,” the ‘'country”
(of the Mahdi ) par excellence.
In 1885 the Khalifah settled
in Omdurman, and declared
it to be “ the sacred city of the
Mahdi ” ; on the other hand,

the Mahdi said he looked
upon the place merely as a
temporary camp, for the Pro-
phet had revealed to him that
he should die in Syria, after
conquering Egypt and Arabia.
At first the town, which is
nowhere more than three
miles wide, was a collection
of thousands of straw huts
the mosque was simply an
oblong enclosure, with a mud
wall, 460 yards long and 350
yards wide. This was re-
General Gordon Pasha. placed by a mosque built of
burnt brick, whitewashed.
The population of the town is at present 42,779.
Adjoining the mosque was the Khalifah’s House the ;
latter contains several courts, all of which communicate, and

the private apartments were near the mosque. He added a
second storey to his house, with windows on all four sides,
so that he might overlook the whole city ; but he allowed no
other two-storeyed house to be built. His house was furnished
with brass and iron bedsteads with mosquito curtains, carpets,
silk-covered cushions, curtains of rich colour and texture, and
3 G 2
;
836 OMDURMAN.
the panels of his doors were made of precious woods, carved

and sometimes inlaid his bath-room was lit from the roof,
;
and he often enjoyed a bath in sesame oil, with the sunlight

streaming upon him. Close to the bath was a small basin
with brass taps that had been taken from Gordon’s bath in
Khartum. To the east of the Khalifah’s house is that which
belonged to his son, Ya‘kub. A granite tablet let into a
wall close by marks the spot where the Hon. H. G. L. Howard,
special correspondent of the New York Herald and Times was ,
struck by the fragment of a shell and killed in September, 1898.

The Bet al = Amanah, or arsenal, is near Ya‘kub’s house. The
Bet al = Mal, or treasury, is on the north side of the city,
close to the river ;
the Slave Market lay to the south of it,
and the Prison is near the river, about the middle of the
town. Formerly, gallows and cemeteries existed in several
parts of the city, but these have been abolished ; numerous
wells, dug by forced labour, also existed. The walls of Omdur-
man varied from 11 to 30 feet in height, and from 9 to 12 feet
in thickness. The Mahdi’s Tomb, or Kubbat al-Mahdi,
was built by the Khalifah Abd- Allah, and was 36 feet square and
30 feet high ; its walls were 6 feet thick. Above this was a
hexagonal wall, 15 feet high, and above this rose a dome,
40 feet high ; thus the whole building was 85 feet high. On
the corners of the main building were four smaller domes. It
had 10 large arched windows and two doors, and in the hexag-
onal portion were six skylights ; the building was whitewashed,
and surrounded by a trellis-work fence. Over the Mahdi’s
grave was a wooden sarcophagus, covered with black cloth,
and from the centre of the dome hung an immense chandelier
taken from the old Government Palace at Khartum. The
Khalifah made a pilgrimage to the Mahdi’s tomb obligatory,
and prohibited the pilgrimage to Mecca. The dome was badly
injured in the bombardment of Omdurman on September 2nd,
and since the building was the symbol of successful rebellion,
up to a certain point, and fanaticism, and had become a goal
for pilgrimages and the home of fraudulent miracles, it was
destroyed by charges of guncotton by the British. For the
same reasons the Mahdi’s body was burnt in the furnace of one
of the steamers, and the ashes thrown into the river, and this
was done on the advice of Muhammadan officers and notables
the Mahdi's head is said to have been buried at Wadi Halfah.
There is little of interest in Omdurman for the traveller from
a historical or archaeological point of view, but the bazaars which
MAHDfs TOMB. 837
are springing up in the northern portion of the town are worth

a visit, for there trade is making itself felt on the old lines. The
products of Dar Fur and Kordofan are being brought north, and
are exchanged for the products of Europe in the shape of scents,
scented soaps, small mirrors, beads, pins, needles, nails, and a
hundred other useful articles of daily life. The workers in metal
are finding more and more work each year, and the leather dressers
The Mahdi’s Tomb before the Bombardment of Omdurman.
and workers are beginning do a good trade. In Khartum

to
itself business is and under the just and equitable
increasing,
government which the country now enjoys will continue to do so.
A pleasant afternoon’s ride may be taken to Kerreri and
Gebel Surkab,* about seven miles north of Omdurman. At
the former place the Egyptian cavalry, the British Horse
Artillery, and the Camel Corps were posted on September 2nd,
* Commonly called Gebel Surgam.
838 KERRERI, GEBEL SURKAB.
1898; they were charged at 6.30 a.m. by the Dervishes, who

came on in two bodies and were supported by Bakkarah horse-
men, but by 8 a.m. the greater number of them were killed,
and the remainder retired to the hills about three miles distant.
The body of Dervishes led by the Khalifah’s son Ya‘kfib, Shekh
ad-Din, numbered 10,000. On the night of September 1st
the Khalifah bivouacked his army of some 40,000 men behind
Gebel Surkab, and the next morning divided his force into
three sections ; one of these attacked the front and left of the
Sirdar’s position, the second moved on to the Kerreri Heights
with the view of enveloping his right, and the third, under the
Khalifah himself, remained behind Gebel Surkab ready to fall
on the Sirdar’s flank as he advanced to Omdurman. About
9.30 General Macdonald found himself faced by a strong body
of Dervishes, some 20,000 in number, and commanded by the
Khalifah himself ; he at once halted, and deployed into line to
the front to meet the attack. Whilst he was receiving and
disposing of this attack, he suddenly found that the Dervishes
under the Shekh ad-Din and ‘Ali Wad Helu were advancing
upon him from the Kerreri Heights, and that both his front
and rear were threatened, and that he was also in danger of
being outflanked. He at once moved some of his battalions to
the right, and deployed them into line, so as to form with the
remainder of his brigade a sort of arrowhead, one side facing
north and the other west. With the help of Lewis’s and
Wauchope’s brigades this second and determined attack was
crushed, and “ the masterly way in which Macdonald handled
“ his force was the theme of general admiration.” Maxwell’s
and Lyttelton’s brigades pushed on over the slopes of Gebel
Surkab, driving before them the remainder of the Dervish
forces, and cutting off the retreat on Omdurman. The battle
was then practically over. About 10,800 Dervishes were
counted dead on the battlefield, and for some time after the
battle groups of skeletons could be seen marking the spots
where they were mown down by the awful rifle fire of the
British and Egyptian troops, and the shell-fire from the gun-
boats. On the day following the battle numerous parties of
British and Egyptian soldiers were told off to bury the dead,
and of the 16,000 wounded Dervishes from 6,000 to 7,000
were treated in the hospital which Hassan Effendi Zaki
improvised in Omdurman. Visitors to the battle-field of
Surkab- Kerreri may even to this day find weapons and
small objects belonging to those who were killed there.
839
V. — KHARTUM TO RUSERES ON THE BLUE

NILE.*
The length of the Blue Nile from the cataracts at Ruseres to
Khartum is, according to Captain H. G. Lyons, 639 kilometres,
or nearly 400 miles, and the average width of its channel is
about 1,650 feet. From Ruseres to Lake Sana, a distance of
563 miles, the river is called the ’Abai. From the source
of the Blue Nile to Lake Sana is a distance of 150 miles;
therefore the total length of the Blue Nile is 1,113 miles.
The source of the Blue Nile was discovered by James Bruce
in 1760. The river is lowest in April; signs of the coming
flood appear in May, but the real rise does not begin until June.
Its maximum is reached in August. The velocity of its current
is 3 miles per hour in February, and in flood it is double that
rate. In the winter its water is very clear, and is said to be of

a “ beautiful limpid blue,” but in flood the water is of a deep
chocolate colour. In flood the Blue Nile is charged with an
immense quantity of matter in suspension, formed by the
sweepings of the leaf mould of the forests, and the scourings
of the volcanic and metamorphic rocks of the Abyssinian
plateau and spurs. The chief crop of the Blue Nile is “ dhura ”
( sorghum vulgare) ; a little cotton is grown on the foreshore
of the river, and sugar millet is cultivated round about Sennaar.
Other crops are lubya, sesame, termis, lentils, millet, and
wheat and barley ; no tobacco is now grown. The sheep of
the country have no horns, and have hair instead of wool.
At mile 14, on the east bank of the river, is Soba, where
stood the ancient capital of the kingdom of ‘Alwah. The
province is said to have contained 400 churches, and it lay to
the east of Tuti Island ; its inhabitants were Jacobite Christians,
and owed ecclesiastical allegiance to the Patriarch of Alexandria.
There was a considerable number of monks in the neighbour-
hood, for monasteries existed both in the town and on the
river. The chief church in the town was called “ Church of
Manbali.” Colonel Stanton, Mudir of Khartum, and the
writer examined the ruins at Soba in 1903, and came to the
* Called the “ Ao-tclttos ” by Strabo. The Abyssinians call the portion
of the river which flows through their country ’Abay or 'Abaw!
m-
and the
The Astapos is compounded of the old word
old Ethiopian name ’Abay, or ’Abai,
a$t or ctsta “ river,’’
840 ABU HARAZ.
conclusion that the chief ruins there were those of a large Coptic
church, which had existed until the Middle Ages, and that
some of the granite pillars in it had been obtained from a
temple of the late Ptolemaic or Roman Period. An examina-
tion of a few of the graves there proved that men, probably
monks or officials of the church, had been buried within its
walls, and the construction of the tombs suggested the class of
Coptic church tomb which is usually associated with the seventh
or eighth century of our era. Ruins of some of the stone gate-
ways of the ancient city exist in several places not very far from
the ruins of the church. A very comfortable rest house has been
built at Soba and at other places up the Blue Nile for the
officials of the Egyptian Government, and travellers will no
doubt be allowed to make use of them.
At mile 55, on the west bank of the river, is Maggad ; it is
a large village, the people of which live in beehive-shaped straw
“ tukls ” instead of mud-walled and flat-topped dwellings.
At mile 65, on the west bank of the river, is Kamlin, a
village perched on a high gravelly ridge, and inhabited by
Danaklah and Gaalin Arabs. Between Maggad and Kamlin
there is low jungle on the east bank, and open country on the
west bank. There are no trees outside the thorny belt, and
there are no date palms. At Kamlin are the remains of the
old indigo vats which Isma‘il Pasha built when he attempted
to introduce the cultivation of the indigo plant into the Sftdan.
The headquarters of a modern administrative division are here.
At mile 95, on the east bank, is Rufa‘a, inhabited by
Shukriyah Arabs ; it is said to be the second largest town on
the Blue Nile. Opposite to Rufa‘a is the town of Arbagi, the
Herbagi of Bruce, where there are remains of buildings of an
old Meroitic kingdom.
At mile 106, on the western bank, is Massalamiyah,
inhabited by the Halawi Arabs, and the seat of an adminis-
trative official; the village was in ruins in 1899, and its people
were thought to favour the Khalifah’s rebellion.
At mile 118, on the east bank, is the military station of Abu
Haraz, and from this point onwards both banks are covered
with jungle, which might even be called forest. To the north
of the camp lies the old village, called “ Abu Haraz al-Bahri,”
and the columns and minarets of an old brick mosque which
the Mahdi destroyed are to be seen here. At Abu Haraz a
Nilometer has been erected. The old trade route to Kadaref,
150 miles distant, starts from here it runs by the bank of the
;
SENNAAR. 841
Rahad River for 40 miles, to ‘Ain al-Luega, passes the well of

Al-Fau an open plain at mile 80, and then proceeds due
in
eastwards for 70 miles more. Kadaref has been called the
granary of the Shdan. Kallabat, the frontier town between
Abyssinia and the Sudan, is 94 miles from Kadaref and
364 miles from Khartum. The old fort of Kallabat stands on
a hill about 150 feet above the village.
About five miles above Abu Haraz the river Rahad enters
the Blue Nile on the east bank, 122 J miles from Khartum.
At mile 123, on the west bank, is the large and important
town of Wad Madani, which has quite taken the position
formerly occupied by Sennaar. The railway was brought
here in 1910. North of the town are the remains of a
mosque, built by the founder of the Madani tribe, but
destroyed by the Mahdi ; the tomb is still standing. The
population of Wad Madani is about 14,000, and consists of
Fung and Hamag Blacks, and numbers of several tribes of
Arabs this town is the seat of a governor, and the telegraph
;
runs through it. There is a market twice a week, Mondays

and Thursdays vegetables of many kinds are abundant, and a
;
brisk trade is done in soap, sesame oil, and native leather goods,
and in European wares, e.g., beads, mirrors, cutlery, coloured
cottons, Manchester goods, sugar, tobacco, &c.
At mile 172 is Shibergah the scenery is wild and beautiful,
;
troops of baboons and small grey monkeys are to be seen, the

woods are filled with birds of bright plumage, and the forest
trees are covered with creepers.
At mile 213, on the east bank, is Sennaar, formerly the
capital of a province of that name. The country has always
been extremely fertile, for large quantities of rain fall each year
;
the production of wheat and barley has therefore been very

considerable, and large herds of cattle can always find grazing
ground. The inhabitants in former years were well to do, and
have contributed large sums to the revenues of the Khedives of
Egypt. The Mahdi sent a force to take the town of Sennaar,
and the inhabitants were besieged for some time they were,
;
however, relieved by Sanjak Salih Wad al-Mekh and an army of

the Shaikiyah Arabs. Later the Mahdi sent ‘Abd al- Karim
against it, but he failed to take it. In 1885, however, the
garrison was forced to surrender to Wad An-Nagumi, and the
fall of the town was a signal for the most brutal atrocities and
cruelties.The Dervishes slew almost every man they found,

they burned large quantities of stores and crops, and all the
;;
842 LAKE SANA.
young women were sent to the Khalifah. The town has never
recovered from the blow dealt it at that time, and now Wad
Madani has taken its place. Formerly the Binder River
district was famous for its cotton, and attempts are now being
made to revive the cotton industry on a large scale. At Sennaar
a Nilometer has been erected.
At mile 266 is Sengah, the capital of the Sennaar Province
it stands on the east bank. The town was founded by ‘Abd-
Allah Wad Al-Hassan in 1896.
At mile 185, on the west bank, is Al = Barriab, and three
miles further up the Binder River enters the Blue Nile from
the east. The Dinder rises in the same country as the Rahad,
and flows parallel with it for about 65 or 75 miles.
About mile 287 is Karkog, and at mile 382 is Ruseres,
which is famous as the scene of the great fight wherein
Colonel Lewis and 400 soldiers of his gallant 10th battalion
defeated Ahmad Fadil with some 3,000 of his followers in 1898.
Above Ruseres the course of the Blue Nile is to the south-east
above Kamamil it bends round and turns nearly due east for
about 40 miles. For over 100 miles it runs towards the south-
east, and then bends round to the north, and eventually the
valley down which the river flows is seen to open out into Lake
Sana. From Ruseres upwards the name of the Blue Nile is
the River ’Abai. This river leaves the lake by a series of
channels and light rapids, which unite in a fine broad stream
nearly 700 feet wide; it then has a moderate slope for some
miles, when it becomes narrower and more rapid. About
24 miles down is the old bridge which the Portuguese built
over the falls at Agam Deldi it is the only bridge over the
;
Blue Nile in its whole length. The area of Lake Sana is

about 3,000 square kilometres. It receives 6,572,000,000 cubic
metres of water in the year; it loses 3,641,000,000 by evapora-
tion, and 2,924,000,000 are discharged in the ’Abai, or Blue
Nile.
—
843
VI. -KHARTUM TO THE GREAT LAKES.

The length of the Nile between Khartum and its source at
the Ripon
Falls is estimated at about 1,560 miles.
From Khartum to Lake No the Nile is called the Bahr al-
Abyad, or “White Nile.”
The following are the principal places passed between
Khartum and Duwem* :
Kalakla. Mile 8.
Shekh Salim. Mile n.
Gemmueya District. Mile 17.
Hanek. Mile 27. Arda Island begins.
Gebel Auli. Mile 28.
Gebel Mandara. Mile 32.
Gebel Barima. Mile 40.
Abu Hagar. Mile 52.
Katena. Mile 55. Christian antiquities have been found here.
Salahiya. Mile 59.
Garazi. Mile 76.
Wad Shabai. Mile 82.
Tura As=Suk, Zif. Mile 100.
Dabasi. Mile 108.
‘Amara, Gebel Arashkol. Mile 109. Manir Island.
Shabasha. Mile 112.
Ghobesha. Mile 121.
Between Khartum and Ad = Duwem the Nile banks are
uninteresting the river is very wide, sometimes as much as
;
a mile and a half. Water-fowl are seen in large numbers,

and on the banks and mud flats crocodiles abound. Ad-
Duwem is 125 miles above Khartum, and a British
about
official resideshere ; a Nilometer has been erected, and the
river levels are recorded daily. The business done here is
chiefly in gum, which is brought from the interior, packed on
camels in large bales covered with matting made of Lahaw
grass. Here the gum is shipped by steamer or native boat
to Omdurman, where the merchants pay the Government duty.
The transport service to Al-Obed, the capital of Kordofan,
starts from this point. An action was fought here between the
the Egyptians and the Mahdi on August 23rd, 1883.
* For the details of this section I am greatly indebted to Sir William
Garstin’s Report on the Upper Nile Basin , London, 1904 ; and Count
Gleichen’s Handbook , 2nd edition, London, 1905.
844 HASSANlYAH ISLAND — MASHRAT AR-RENK.
Hassamyah Island. Mile 130.

Umm Gar. Mile 138.
Mashrat AUHellah. Mile 143. Pieces of Sadd (Sudd)
begin to appear here.
Kawwah, on the east bank, 146 miles from Khartum, is
a large village, with Government offices, and a gum depot and
a small grain store. The district is showing signs of reviving
prosperity, and new villages are springing up everywhere.
Mashrah Shaggara. Mile 154.
Tomb of Shekh Nur At = Tayyib. Mile 162.
Shawwal. Mile 163. North end of Aba Island.
Marabiyah. Mile 174.
Mahdi’s Place. Mile 175.
Zenubah. Mile 191. South end of Aba Island.
Koz Abu Gumah, on the east bank, about 192 miles from
Khartum, is a Government station, and possesses a telegraph
office. Opposite this place is the southern end of Aba
Island, which is 28 miles long, and divides the river into two
channels. This island is famous as the dwelling-place of
Muhammad Ahmad, “the Mahdi,” and the ruins of his house
are still pointed out. On the west bank of the river, about
16 miles north of Koz Abu Gumah, is Fashi Shoya, wherefrom
Sir F. R. Wingate started in 1899 on the expedition which
ended in the defeat and death of the Khalifah at Umm
Dabrekat. The bridge over the Nile was completed in 1910.
‘Abbasiyah Gadidah. Mile 200. Colony of old Sildani
soldiers.
At Abu Zed, mile 208, is a ford; steamer traffic is at times
wholly interrupted here. Hippopotami begin to be seen here.
Masran Island (North End). Mile 209.
Danko Shush. Mile 213.
Danko Salim. Mile 227.
Masran Island (South End). Mile 236. Here the rocks
run right across the river.
Gebelen. Mile 238. Here is the boundary between the
White Nile and Upper Nile Provinces. On the eastern bank
are five granite rocks, the highest being 600 feet high. The
ruins of the “ Dem” or camp of Ahmad Fadil are still visible
here. Here the serut fly makes its appearance.
Bulli Island. Mile 247.
Gamus. Mile 276. South end of Bulli Island.
Agang. Mile 296.
Mashrat Ar = Renk. Mile 298. An action was fought
KHOR DULEB — FA-SHODA. 845
here between the Egyptians and Dervishes on September 15th,

1898. The Dervish camp was bombarded and taken, and
a steamer captured. A British Inspector resides here. Post
and telegraph station. The village is about five miles inland.
Khor Duleb. Mile 300.
Warrit, or Loingwin. Mile 310. Here there is a ford.
Umm Hadedah. Mile 320. Elephants come here at
night to drink.
Leungtom Al = Wat. Mile 326. Wad Dakona Island
ends (16 miles long).
Dabbah Al = Za\viyah. Mile 331.
Anok. Mile 335.
Dabba Ibrahim Sharak. Mile 344.
Dabba Abu Teba. Mile 350.
Gebel Ahmad ‘Agha. Mile 353. This hill is 250 feet high,
Edor Gamoia. Mile 357.
Gamus. Mile 363.
Alumbal. Mile 367.
Rum Umm Gursan. Mile 372.
Ardeb Al=Maryam. Mile 378.
Mashrat ar = Rum, and Tereti. Mile 380.
Kaka and Debek. Mile 391. A collection of Shilluk
villages.
Ajok. Mile 397.
Kaka (Hallat Al-Niam-Niam). Mile 404.
Melut. Mile 413.
Demtemma. Mile 416.
Shekh Dalai. Mile 418.
Fa=5hoda, or Kodok,
at mile 459, is situated on a small
peninsula, which juts out into the river, and is connected
with the ridge by a narrow strip of land ; on three sides of
the peninsula is a deep swamp. A long, low island, nearly
a quarter of a mile long, stretches in front of the station.
0
Kodok is on the west bank, in lat. 9 53' N., and long. 32° 8 E. r
The channel between the island and the mainland dries up in

hot weather, and water has to be fetched from a long distance.
The Mekh, or king of the Shilluk tribe, lives near Kodok, and
many of the roads from Kordofan converge here; in the
Mahdi’s time it was a place of some importance, but it
is not, and never can be, a healthy spot, because of the
prevalence of fever. In the dry season (March) the tem-
perature ranges from 98° to 105° in the shade. Kodok is
the name now given to the place which became so famous
L$L — Dl>LEB HILL.
in 1898 as Fa = Shod a. This miserable place was occupied

by Major Marchand on July 10th, 1898, and was attacked
on August 25 th by the Dervishes, who were, however, repulsed.
On September 19th Lord Kitchener landed the Egyptian
troops, and hoisted the Egyptian flag on a ruined bastion
of the fortifications, and had it saluted with all ceremony
by the gunboats ; thus he reoccupied the Egyptian territory
which had been seized by the Dervishes. On November 4th
Lord Salisbury announced that France had decided to with-
draw her gallant soldier from Fa-Shoda, and soon after Major
Marchand continued his journey into Abyssinia, and his officers
travelled northwards by way of the Nile. Kodok is the Head-
quarters of the Fa-Shoda Province, and has a telegraph station
and a post office. Major Marchand’s guns and buildings are
still to be seen, and his garden is kept up. The place
is infested by “millions of mosquitoes,” and it has been
aptly described as a “damp hell for men, and a heaven for
mosquitoes.”
Lul, at mile 511, is one of the stations of the Austrian
Roman Catholic Mission. The Mission is prosperous, and

good work is being done by the Fathers.
Tawfikiyah, mile 518, on the east bank of the river, was
the station where Sir Samuel Baker passed the whole summer
of 1870. The cantonments cover 10 acres of land, and the
Commandant’s house is at the south end of the station it is
;
a very unhealthy place, and in 1900 about 50 per cent, of the

small garrison were incapacitated from fever.
Five miles above Tawfikiyah the Bahr al = Asfar, or Yellow
River, commonly known as the Sobat, joins the Nile on the
eastern bank. The colour of the Sobat water, when in
moderate flood, a milky white, and in full flood a pale
is
brick red ; the effect of the mingling of this water with that
of the White Nile is remarkable, and is observable some distance
down stream. The tributaries of the Sobat River are the
Adura, Baro, Upeno, Birbir, Nigol, Aluro, Gelo, Akobo,
Agwei, Pibor, and Khor Filus. About 173 miles from the
junction of the Sobat with the Nile is Naser, where there is
a Government post. At Duleb Hill, about five miles up
the Sobat River, the American Mission of Egypt estab-
lished a station under Mr. and Mrs. Giffen and Dr. and Mrs.
McLaughlin. The Mission is manifestly conducted on those
sound, common-sense principles which are strongly character-
istic of American mission work in Egypt. No parade is made
AMERICAN MISSION. 847
of religion. In fact, the work of conversion, properly so called,

can scarcely be said to have commenced. By kindly and
considerate treatment Mr. Giffen is allaying those suspicions
which are so easily aroused in the minds of the savages.
Lord Cromer found there considerable numbers of Shilluks,
men and women, working happily at the brick-kiln which
Mr. Giffen has established in the extensive and well-cultivated
garden attached to the Mission. Cotton, apparently of good
quality, has already been produced. The houses in which
the members of the Mission live have been constructed by
Shilluk labour. Lord Cromer added: “Not only can there
“ be no possible objection to mission work of this description,
“ but I may add that, from whatever point of view the
“ matter is considered, the creation of establishments con-
“ ducted on the principles adopted by Mr. Giffen and
“ Dr. McLaughlin cannot fail to prove an unmixed benefit to
“ the population amongst whom they live. I understand that
“ the American missionaries contemplate the creation of
“ another Mission post higher up the Sobat. It is greatly to
“ be hoped that they will carry out this intention. They may
“ rely on any reasonable encouragement and assistance which
“ it is power of the Soudan Government to afford.
in the
“ It is,venture to think, to be regretted that none of the
I
“ British Missionary Societies appear so far to have devoted
“ their attention to the southern portions of the Sudan, which
“ are inhabited by pagans. Not only do these districts present
“ a far more promising field for missionary enterprise than
“ those provinces whose population is Muhammadan, but the
“ manifest political objections which exist in allowing mission
“ work in the latter do not in any degree exist in the former
“ case. I entirely agree with the opinion held by Sir Reginald
“ Wingate, and shared, I believe, by every responsible official
“ who can speak with local knowledge and authority on the
“ subject, that the time is still distant when mission work can,
“ with safety and advantage, be permitted amongst the Moslem
“ population of the Sudan. Subsequently to writing these
“ remarks I visited the Austrian Roman Catholic Mission,
“ situated a short distance south of Fashoda. It is also very
“ well conducted, and deserves the same amount of encourage-
“ ment as that accorded to the American establishment. I
“ should add that although mission work, properly so called,
“ cannot as yet be permitted amongst the Moslem population
“ of the Sfidan, I see no objection to the establishment of
848 GHABA SHAMBI.
“ Christian schools at Khartum. Parents should, of course,

“ be warned, before they send their children to the schools,
“ that instruction in the Christian religion is afforded. It will
“ be then for them to judge whether they wish their children to
“ attend or not. Probably the best course to pursue will be to
“ set aside certain hours for religious instruction, and leave it
“ optional to the parents whether or not their children shall
“ attend during those hours. It must be remembered that,
“ besides the Moslem population, there is a small number of
“ Christians at Khartum. These might very probably wish to
“ take advantage of the schools.”
At mile 521 is Tonga, and at mile 547 is the mouth of the
Bahr aUZarafah or “ Giraffe River.’ ’ This river is about
205 miles long. At mile 600 is the MayaSignora, which
was first explored by the brave and philanthropic lady
Alexandrine Tinne. At mile 612 Lake No is entered. At
the western end of Lake No is the mouth of the Bahr al-Ghazal
or Gazelle River.
The principal stations now occupied on the latter river are
Waw, Rumbek, Dem Zuber, Shambi, Shak Shak, Tonj,
Mashra ar-Rek. A passage through the sudd of this river
was cut between Mashra ar-Rek and Waw by the late
0
Lieutenant Fell, R.N. Lake No is situated in lat. 9 29' N., and
is the reservoir for all the watershed between the Congo and
0 0
the Nile, i.e., lat. 5 and 8° N., and long. 24 and 30° E. The
chief affluents of the Bahr al-Ghazal, or “ Gazelle River,” are
the Rohl, the Jau, the Tonj, the Bahr al-Arab, the Bahr
al-Homr, and the Jur. On the “ Sudd,” see the chapter on
the Nile.
From Lake No to Lake Albert the Nile is called the Bahr
al = Gebel, i.e., the “Mountain River,” or Upper Nile. On
leaving Lake No the Sadd region is entered. Most of the
blocks of sadd which obstructed the waterway have now been
removed. At mile 139 from Lake No is Hallat An-Nuwer
or Aliab Dok.
At mile 253 from Lake No the northern end of the Shambi
Lagoon is reached it is about five miles long by rather more
;
than one mile wide. On the west bank of this water is the
post of Ghaba Shambi, or the “ Forest of Shambi,” in
0
lat. 7 6' 30” N.
;
it is now an important place, for it is the Nile-
outpostof the Bahr al-Ghazal Province. The scenery is mourn-

ful in the extreme, endless tracks of swamps extending in all
directions. Hippopotami abound here.
-
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 849
Abu Kuka, at mile 293, is situated in lat. 6° 54' N. ; here

the papyrus-covered marshes stretch in all directions.
Kanisah, i.e., the “Church/’ at mile 304, is in lat. 6° 46' N.
The place has obtained this name from the Austrian Mission
Station which was located here for many years. The church
and buildings were on the east bank, but all traces of them have
disappeared. The Mission was founded by Father Knoblecher
in 1849, assisted by Fathers Beltrame, Dorvak, Morlang, Rylls,
Ueberbacher, Vinci, and eleven others, all of whom, save two,
died of the fever of the country. The Mission was abandoned
in 1864 or 1865 because of the deadly effects of the climate.*
Kanisah is the principal wooding station for steamers making
the journey through the sudd. The forest here is very thick,
and extends to the Rohl River 65 miles distant.
At mile 344 Lake Powendael is passed, but is separated
from the river by a belt of swamp. At mile 360 and round
about, hippopotami are very numerous the natives live by
;
their slaughter and by fishing. Here, too, the Sadd district

begins, although the real swamps are not reached until south
of Ghaba Shambi; papyrus, ambatch, etc., take the place of
the grasses which are found more to the north. At mile 380
the swamps end, and the forest comes down to the river.
At mile 384 isor Bohr, on the east bank, in
Bor,
lat. 6° 12' 46". Here the forest stands back from the river,
and a number of Dinka villages are seen, and a few Duleb palms.
The village of Bor is well kept, neat, and clean. The circular,
mud-plastered huts have conical thatched roofs ; each has a
small door through which the inhabitants crawl. Six miles
upstream is the “ Dem ” or camp and fort so long held by
the Dervish chief Arabi Dafa‘a Allah. It lies on the east bank,
the river sweeps round on two sides, and on the other two is
a mud wall. The enclosure measures 2,300 feet by 1,300 feet.
In October, 1905, the Church Missionary Society sent
* “
The mission-station consists of about twenty grass huts on a patch of
“ dry ground close to the river. Herr Morlang acknowledged, with great
“ feeling, that the mission was absolutely useless among such savages ; that
“ he had worked with much zeal for many years, but that the natives were
“ utterly impracticable. They were far below the brutes, as the latter
“ showsigns of affection to those who are kind to them ; while the natives,
“ on the contrary, are utterly obtuse to all feelings of gratitude. . . .
“The Mission having given up the White Nile as a total failure, Herr
“ Morlang sold the whole village and mission-station to Khurshtd ‘Agha
“ this morning for 3,000 piastres, Ê.30 ! . . It is a pitiable sight to
. .
“ witness the self-sacrifice that many noble men have made in these fright
“ ful countries without any good results.” (Baker, Albert N*y<mza> p. 53. )
3 R
850 b6r—— GONDOKORO.
out a party of missionaries to establish a station at Mongalla.

The party consisted of the Rev. F. B. Hadow, M.A., the
Rev. A. Shaw, B.A., the Rev. A. M. Thom, M.A., Mr. E.
Lloyd, B.A., B.C., and Messrs. J. Comely and R. C. J. S.
Wilmot, Industrial Agents, and they reached Mongalla on
January 8th, 1906. Mongalla is a purely .military post, and
acting on the advice of the Mudir of the Province, Cameron
Bey, and of the Commandant, Captain Logan, the party
decided to make their headquarters at Bor, and their boat
was therefore towed down the river on January 18th.
At mile 398 is the Military Post of Bor, which is to be
the headquarters of the new Administrative District of Bor.
At mile 431, on the east bank, is a magnificent tree, which
forms a prominent landmark. The scenery here is extremely
picturesque.
0
Kiro, at mile 460, on the west bank, is in lat. 5 12' or
0
13'. It is a picturesque place, surrounded by forest, in
5
which are some fine trees. Kiro, Lado, and Raggaf are the
principal Nile stations of the Belgian Enclave. The huts at
Kiro are well built, and the cantonment is surrounded by a
wooden stockade, armed with Krupp guns. On the island
opposite are many Paw-Paw trees. The Belgian garrison con-
sists of 400 men, and the soldiers are largely recruited from
the cannibal tribes. The settlement has a paddle steamer, the
“ Van Kerckhoven,” and several steel boats. Two or three
miles upstream, on the western bank, is Lado Mountain.
Mongalla, on the east bank, at mile 474, marks the limit
of the Sudan Government on the White Nile. A British
Inspector and Police Officer are stationed here, and all the
Government offices, hospital, barracks, etc., are built of brick.
0
Lado, at mile 495, on the west bank, is in lat. 5 1' 33" N.
It was the capital of the Equatorial Provinces of Egypt, and
here Emin Pasha ruled. The greater number of the houses
are of burnt brick, and have conical roofs. The place is desolate
and swampy, and fever is rife.
0
Gondokoro, at mile 504, on the east bank (lat. N. 4
0
54' 29", long. E. 31 43' 46"), has been much improved
in recent years ; the roads are good and the jungle has
been cleared away. The English officials have comfortable
houses. The ground upon which the Austrian Church and
Mission stood has been eaten away by the river, and it is
thought that the rest of the settlement will disappear for the
same reason. The Mission Station had tq be abandoned, for
IBR AHIMIYAH GEBEL KURDU. 85 I
the Bari tribe and the climate together made the lives of the
missionaries unbearable. The Nile gauge set up in 1901 was
carried away, but a new one has been set up near the collector’s
house.
At mile 513 is Ibrahimiyah from this place the hills of
;
Kurrak and Kajur are seen some miles inland.

At mile 516 is Lungwi Mountain, on the east bank.
Near this place are the Belgian settlement of Raggaf and
Raggaf Hill, or “ Earthquake Mountain.” The hill is a perfect
cone, and was once, probably, a volcano. The Belgian Fort
is on the north of the hill, and in the plain the Belgians
defeated the Dervishes. There are no trees here, and the
district is subject to earthquakes. The houses have thatched
roofs and verandahs.
At mile 519 is the Kit River, which enters the Nile on
the east bank ; it rises in the Lumoga Mountains, near the
0
Atappi, in lat. 3 53', and is about 90 miles long. The Arabs
call it Bahr Ramliyah, or “Sandy River,” and its upper reaches
are called “ Gomoro.”
At mile 525 is Fort Berkeley, which is garrisoned by
retired Sudanese soldiers ; it is merely a collection of straw
huts within a zariba.
At mile 526 are Badden Island and Badden Rapids ;
there are no other Rapids between this place and the Sixth
Cataract, at Shablhka. Upstream a mile or two the Peki and
Lagogolo Rivers enter the Nile on the east side.
At mile 537 the Khurru torrent enters the Nile on the
east side ; two miles above is the village of Armoji.
At mile 546 are the two granite hills of Kiri ; the Fort of
Kiri was on the western hill. Here begin the Makedo
Rapids. A mile or so above the Kweh River enters the
Nile on the east bank.
At mile 551 is Kaniye, a collection of villages; near this
place the Niumbe River enters the Nile on the east side.
At mile 566 the Gougi Rapids begin; they are n
or
12 miles long.
At mile 569 is the Karpeto River.
At mile 571 is the village of Lakki.
At mile 581 are the Umi River and the Madi village of Kuio.
At mile 584 is Labori, Emin Pasha’s old fort.
At mile 587 is the Madi village of Mougi.
At mile 599 is Gebel Kurdu, in the Kirefi country, where
there are herds of elephants.
3 h 2
852 THE FOLA RAPIDS.
Near this place the Asua River joins the Nile, about
100 miles from Gondokoro.
At mile 608 is Nimuli, the headquarters of the Nile
Province, with an Assistant Commissioner and a Commandant
of the military force stationed on the Nile. Close by is the
Unyami River, and to the north-east are the Arju Mountains.
Here the rapids of the White Nile begin. A little below
Nimuli the Fola Rapids begin, and these constitute the
most formidable obstacle to the course of the White Nile in
the whole of its course between Albert N’yanza and Khartum.
Sir W. Garstin says that it is doubtful “ whether in the cataracts
“ between Shabluka and Aswan any such demonstration of
“ the force and power of water is to be seen. The main
“ volume of the river passes down the right-hand or eastern
“ channel. Except in flood the amount of water in the channel
“ to the left of the central island is insignificant. The scene from
“ the rocks on the right bank is an extraordinary one. At the
“ south end of the islands the rapids commence in two or
“ more falls with a drop of some five or six metres, and a total
“ width of about 60 metres. These break the surface of the
“ river into a sheet of foam, but it is only after they have been
“ passed that the real struggle commences. Below the falls
“ the stream rushes down an extremely narrow gorge with a
“ very heavy slope, enclosed between vertical walls of rock.
“ This can best be compared to a gigantic mill-race or water-
“ slide 100 metres in length. The water tears through this
“ channel in a glassy, green sheet with an incredible velocity.
“The width of this ‘gut’ is nowhere more than 16 metres
“ across, and in places it is less ! What the depth of the
“ water may be it is impossible to say. At the foot of this
“ race the river leaps into a deep cauldron or pot, which it fills
“ with an apparently boiling mass of white water, lashed into
“ foam and affording a remarkable example of the rage with
“ which water attacks any serious obstacle in its course. The
“ length of this cauldron is only 50 metres, but its width is
“ not more than 12 metres across! Immediately below this
“ the channel widens out to some 30 metres, and eventually
“ more, while the river thunders down, in a series of rapids, for
“ a considerable distance. It is difficult in words to give even
“ a faint idea of this unique scene. The best photographs do
“ not satisfactorily reproduce it. They cannot show the colouring
“ of the picture or really depict the wild beauty of the surround-
“ ings. On either side of the channel are vertical walls of
-
DUFILf. 853
“ rock from
7 to 10 metres above the water. These rocks are
“ polished like black marble, and stand up in vertical ribs,
“ indicating how severe must have been the dislocation of the
“ strata at the time when they were originally forced to the
“ surface. In many places they are hidden by masses of
“ vegetation, and creepers hang down in graceful festoons,
“ forming a curtain resembling green velvet. The inky black
“ ness of the rocks and the variegated greens of the foliage
“ contrast vividly with the seething mass of white water, above
“ which the spray is tossed high in the air in a misty cloud.
“ Above all, a deep blue sky and a brilliantly clear atmosphere
“ add to the effect of an exceptionally lovely scene. In the
“ distance, but a long way down stream, the pointed peaks of
“ the Kuku Mountains form an effective background to this
“ enchanting picture.”
Dufili, 130 miles from Magungo, and 1,190 from Khartum,
0 0
is in lat. 3 34' 35" N., and long. 32 30" E. It consists of
a collection of huts within a fortified enclosure, and is armed
with Krupp guns ; behind it is Elengua Mountain. Here are
the historic fig trees under which Emin Pasha transacted
business. It is said to be very unhealthy, and blackwater fever
is prevalent.
At mile 640 (from Lake No) is “Mosquito Camp”; traces
of the track of the Belgian Railway are here visible.
At mile 645 is the Jokka River, on the east bank.
At mile 665 is Abu Karar, on the east bank.
At mile 685 is the siteôf the old Egyptian station of Bora.
At mile 700, a little below the junction of the Umi River
with the Nile, on the east bank is Wadelai it is the head-
;
quarters of a district, and here a British collector and a European

medical officer are stationed ;
the garrison consists of police
only.
At mile 715 the Achwa River joiris the Nile on the
eastern bank.
At mile 730, on the east bank, is the Luri village of
Otiak. About six miles up stream the north end of Albert
N’yanza is reached.
Albert N’yanza, or Lake Albert, was discovered by
Sir Samuel Baker in 1864; it lies within the parallels of
0
lat. i° 9' and 2 17' N., and between the meridians of
0
30° 35' and 31 30' east of Greenwich. It is about
2,169 feet above sea level. Its greatest length is about
100 miles, and it varies in width from 20 to 26 miles. Its
354 LAKE ALBERT EDWARD.
main tributary is the Semliki River, which enters it at the

southern end, but it also receives the drainage of Ruenzori
Mountains, and of a chain of hills on the west. The Semliki
river is about 162 miles long. The Victoria Nile enters Lake
0
Albert in lat. 2 17' N., and the waters of the lake are 2,211 feet
above sea level ; the depth of the lake in the centre has never
been ascertained, but for some way from each shore the water
varies from 32 to 40 feet in depth. The shore waters are
brackish, but in the centre they are sweet ; their general colour
is a dark sea-green. The scenery is in many parts very
beautiful. At Mahagi, or Mswa (lat. i° 52' N.), on the western
shore was Emin Pasha’s station. The chief feeders of the Lake
are the Rivers Msisi, Ngusi, Nyakabari or Horo, Wahamba,
Hoima, Wakki, and Waiga.
The Victoria Nile, i.e ., the Nile between Victoria N’yanza,
or Lake Victoria, and Albert N’yanza, is 242 miles long; it
leaves Lake Victoria at the Ripon Falls, and flows in a
north-westerly direction for many miles. Three or four miles
down are the Owen Falls, from which place for 35 miles
rapids are continuous. At mile 70 from the Ripon Falls is
Lake Choga, which is 85 miles long, and lies nearly east and
west. The Nile next passes through Lake Kwania, which it
leaves at mile 120 from the Ripon Falls. At mile 124 is
Mruli, with the ruins of Gordon’s old Fort. At mile 170 is
Fuwera, or Foweira, and a little down stream are the Karuma
Falls. At about mile 210 from the Ripon Falls, the Nile, after a
sharp bend to the north-west, turns west again, and leaps over the
escarpment in the cascade, named by its discoverer, Sir Samuel
Baker, the Murchison Falls. (Mile 218 from the Ripon Falls.)
Just below these is the village of Fajao ; the river is here
infested by crocodiles, which may be seen in scores on the rocks
below the Falls. About 20 miles down stream is Lake Albert.
Lake Albert Edward was discovered by Mr. H. M.
Stanley in 1875 ; it lies between lat. o° 8' and o° 40' S., and is
bounded by the meridians of 20° 32' and 30° 6' E. The
Wanyoro call Lake Albert Edward “ Dueru,” but this name is
now usually given to the small lake at the north-east corner of
Lake Albert Edward. The length of both lakes, including the
connecting channel, is about 90 miles. Lake Albert Edward
receives the waters of many rivers, but it has only one outlet
viz., the Semliki River. The colour of the water is a light
green, and it has a brackish taste ; in the dry season the lake
is covered by a thick haze.
VICTORIA N’YANZA. *55
Victoria N’yanza, or Lake Victoria, the source of the

Nile, liesbetween the parallels of lat. 20 N. and 3 0 S., and the
0
meridians of 31° 40' and 35 east of Greenwich. Its greatest
length is 230 miles, and greatest breadth 200 miles, and its
area is as large as that of Scotland ; the deepest sounding
known is about 230 feet. It is fed by many rivers, but it has
only one outlet, the Victoria Nile, which flows from the Ripon
Falls, in the Napoleon Gulf on the northern shore. Its
principal affluents are the Rivers Sio, Nzoia, Lukos, Nyando,
Tuyayo, Sondo, Katonga, Ruizi, and Kagera. This last-named
river enters the lake north of the point where the Anglo-
856 LENGTH OF THE NILE.
German boundary touches the coast, and a current sets across

from the Kagera to the Ripon Falls, due partly to the volume
of water and partly to the prevailing trade wind. The Kagera
is the most important of all the affluents of Lake Victoria, and
it has been recently declared to be the real source of the Nile,
but as the Kagera represents the united streams of the

Nyavarongo, the Akanyaru, and the Ruvuvu, any one of these
may equally well be declared to be the source of the Nile. On
this point Sir W. Garstin, the final authority on the question,
says :
—
“If it can be considered that any one river supplying a
“ sheet of water of the size of this lake, has a special influence
“ on its rise and fall, then undoubtedly the Kagera is the real
“ source of the Nile. Taking the area of the lake and the
“ evaporation of its surface into consideration, such a supposi-
“ tion can, however, hardly be allowed, and the Kagera can
“ only be considered as an item, an important one, it is true,
“ in the great system of streams which pour into the lake, and
“ not as in any way influencing the discharge at the Nile
“ outlet. It is true that it is asserted that there is a drift or
“ slight current across the lake from the Kagera in the south
“ to the Ripon Falls in the north, but it seems scarcely credible
that this can be due to the volume of the former river.
4
“ Moreover, this drift is perceptible, even when the volume of

“ the Kagera is low, and it seems most probable that it is due
“ to the prevailing wind which blows over the lake from the
“ south to the north for the greater portion of the year. It
44
cannot then be seriously considered that the Kagera is the
“ source of the Nile. The lake itself constitutes the true
44
source of this river, and forms a vast reservoir, receiving
44
the waters of numerous streams, and discharging a certain
44
limited portion of their united volume into the great river
44
which forms the life of the Soudan and Egypt.” (.Report on
Basin of the Upper Nile p. 19.) ,
The length of the Nile from the Ripon Falls to the

Rosetta Mouth of the Nile is, according to the most recent
calculations of Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., 3,473 miles, or
5,589 kilometres. According to the S ft dan Almanac for
1911 the total length of the Nile from Victoria N’yanza to
Damietta is 3,526 miles.
857
VII.— KENA TO KUSER ON THE RED SEA, AND

THE WADI HAMMAMAT.
The portion of the Eastern Desert between Kena and the
Red Sea,and north and south of a line drawn between these
two places, for hundreds of miles has from very ancient times been
traversed by caravans occupied in the trade in gold and minerals.
The whole district is full of fine hard stone of different kinds
and colours, and quarries in certain parts of it were worked as
early as the Vth dynasty ; the most important of these quarries
have been examined in recent years by experts, who declare
that the stone which still remains in them is valuable, and that
it would pay to work it, provided some means of transport
other than that of camels existed. In addition to the stone

trade, the main road which ran from Kena to Kuser on
the Red Sea was the great highway for trade between Upper
Egypt and the Red Sea, and it appears to have been used
as such from time immemorial. In the first place Kuser
was the seaport to which the copper and turquoises produced
by the mines at Wadi Magharah in the peninsula of Sinai
would be brought for importation into Egypt ; the turquoise
mines were worked quite early in the dynastic period, and it
was easier to bring the products from the Sinaitic seaport to
Kuser than to take them by sea to some place near Suez, and
then transport them by camel to the Delta or Upper Egypt.
The Sinai mines were worked by the Pharaohs, and the quarries
also ; therefore we are justified in assuming that an important
trade route existed between the Nile and Wadi Magharah at least
6,000 years ago. The Egyptians, no doubt, took care to fortify
the route seaports on each side of the Red Sea, and small
garrisons were probably maintained along the desert roads.
Apart from this traffic, however, a considerable business
was done between Egypt and the towns on the shores of
the Red Sea and beyond, along the coast of Somaliland,
and southern Arabia, and both the inward and the outward
trade centred at Kuser. It is very probable that even in early
times there was a subsidiary port at the place on the east
coast, north of Kuser, called at the present time Abu Sar
aUKibli, where Ptolemy II, Philadelphus, founded Myos-
Hormos, or, as it was subsequently called, “Aphrodites-Hormos.”
A road ran from this place to Coptos (Kuft) on the Nile,
8S8 wad! hammamat.
which is said to have been first made by Ptolemy II, but all
that is known
of this region makes it tolerably certain that this
king only developed therein desert routes which had existed
for a very long time, and established new towns on or near old
trade centres. The natives of the desert have from time
immemorial had places on these roads whereat they stopped
regularly, and Ptolemy II assisted traders greatly by estab-
75
lishing guest-houses, or “khans where caravans could pass
,
the night, and their bales of goods could be unloaded in safety
from the camels. Such “ khans were built at regular intervals,

77
and were under Government supervision, and the keepers were

command of a small guard. Stations
probably soldiers, each in
of this sort existed between Myos-Hormos and Kuser, the
Leukos Limen of the classical writers, and between Kuser and
Berenice, and between Coptos and Berenice. In Christian
times a considerable number of pilgrims from Upper Egypt
passed over the Kena -Kuser road on their way to visit the
WADI HAMMAMAT. 859
holy places on and about the mountains which were tradition-

ally pointed out as Sinai and Horeb. They crossed the Red
Sea from Kuser to Tur, and made their way to Sinai, a distance
of only 43 miles from the coast, by one or other of the two
principal roads which lead from Tur to the Holy Mountain.
The traveller to the Wadi Hammamat
starts from Kena,
and makes his first halt at Bir Am
bar in ancient days
;
caravans started from Coptos, the modern Kuft, and modern

travellers, especially the pilgrims to Mecca, usually march from
Kena to the south-east until they join the old road. At Bir
Ambar is a large “khan,” built, as Lepsius tells us, by Ibrahim
Pasha. Passing Gebel al-Karn the road proceeds to Lak6tah,
where the roads from Kena, Kuft, Kus, and Luxor meet,
about 35 miles from Kena ; here there were five wells when
Lepsius visited the place, but some of these have now become
choked. The next halting place is Kasr al = Banat, or the
“ Fortress of the Women,” near which stood the old Roman
station of Hydreuma, and several graffiti may be noticed.
Traversing a plain, about six miles from Kasr al-Banat is Gebel
Abu KlPah, where Lepsius discovered the cartouches of Amen-
hetep IV. A few miles further on is the entrance to the Wadi
Hammamat, where there are large numbers of hieroglyphic
inscriptions ; several of these were copied and published
by Lepsius in his Denkmaler and in recent years the Russian
,
Egyptologist Golenischeff visited the Wadi, and copied several

more, which Lepsius either did not discover or thought
unimportant. The inscriptions prove that the Egyptians
quarried here the famous diorite, breccia, and granite, which
they made into vases, statues, etc., and many other kinds of
stone used in buildings from the Vth dynasty down to the latest
period of their history ; and an ancient papyrus map, published
by Lepsius, Chabas, and Lauth, makes it quite certain that
gold mines existed in the neighbourhood. The most impor-
tant inscriptions here are those dated in the reigns of Assa,
a king of the I Vth dynasty, Seankhka«=Ra, a king of the
Xlth dynasty, and Rameses IV. Assa appears to have made
a journey to Wadi Magharah in the Sinaitic Peninsula by way
of the Wadi Hammamat, which is called Ant Rehennu,
D <=> MAAAA 'fV
i.e . 9 the Valley of Rehennu Seankhka-Ra
;
‘loEa ra o
sent an expedition to Punt through it, under the command of
Hennu, whose orders were to bring back large quantities of
anti perfume; and Rameses IV employed 8,368 workmen in
;
86o WADI HAMMAMAT.
quarrying stone for the temples at Thebes, among them being

a number of the Aperiu who were at one time identified with
,
the Hebrews.
Another very important inscription is that of Khnemu-
ab-Ra, an architect who flourished in the reign of Darius I
this official gives his whole pedigree,
i.e., the names of 25
ancestors, all ofwhom, save one, had been an architect like
himself, and many of whom had held high ecclesiastical offices.
The family is traced back to an ancestress, who probably
lived some 700 years before the last link in the chain, and she
may, as a child, even have seen Rameses II. The Well of
Ham mam at was said by Lepsius to be 80 feet deep; it is
lined with stones, and could be descended by a winding stair-
case. At Gebel Fatirah, two days from Hammamat, is found the
old quarry where the Egyptians obtained their white and black
granite, and two days further to the north is Gebel Dukh =
khan, the Mons porphyrites of the ancients. Here a temple
was built under the Emperor Hadrian to Zeus Helios Sarapis
by the Eparch Rammius Martialis, and close by are the ruins
of a square fort and a well. The porphyry quarries lie in a
mountain adjoining, and are approached by a difficult road.
From Hammamat the road runs to Kuser, via the Wadi Rusafah,
and the Bir al-Ingliz, “ English Well,” is passed. Kuser, i.e.,
the “Little Fortress,” is a town which in 1897 had 1,610
inhabitants; it is about no
miles from Kena, and Boinet Bey
makes it a six days’ journey by camel from that place. It lies a
little to the north of the old seaport town, which existed in
mediaeval times, ruins of which still remain, and south of

Leukos Limen, where the roads from Myos-Hormos and
Coptos joined and continued to Berenice. There is nothing
of interest at Kuser, but the bazaars are increasing in size,
and since the British occupation of Egypt the local trade has
developed considerably.
?
86i
VIII.— ELEMENTARY FACTS OF ARABIC

GRAMMAR.
The Arabic language was introduced into Egypt at the time
of the conquest of the country by ‘Amr ibn
al-Asi, the general
Since that time the Arabic
of the Khalifah ‘Omar, a.d. 640.
spoken in Egypt has changed, and the Arabic of Egypt is
now a well-recognized dialect, with many characteristic
peculiarities. It must be remembered that in literary com-
position the Egyptians always strive to imitate the classical
style, of which the best representative is held by Muhammadans
to be the Kur’an, and the best educated Egyptians strive to
model their language upon that of the old teachers of Syria and
Baghdad. Arabic belongs to the southern group of Semitic
languages, and has more in common with Himyaritic than
with the northern dialects of Hebrew and Syriac. The Arabic
language is written from right to left.
The Arabic Alphabet.

Name Arabic English Arabic English
of UJ
Letter. Equivalent. Letter . Equivalent.
Letter. Letter.
Alif 1
Soft breathing of the Dad cr 3 D, like th in this
Greeks
Ta T, a strongly articu-
Ba c— B lated palatal t
Z, a strongly articu-
Ta T, but softer Za 1-
lated palatal 0
Ta TH, as th in thing ‘
unpronounceable
G, usually but
‘Ain
L ,
by Europeans
Jim Zl
hard in Egypt
J,
GH, like the North-
Ghain t
H, sharp, smoothgut- umbrian r
Ha Fa
tural aspiration F
Kha t KH, like ch in loch Kaf K, a strongly articu-
lated guttural k
D, but softer than in
Dal J English Kaf K
DH, TH, like th in
Lam L
Dhal i that J
Ra J R Mim M
r
Za Z Ntin N
j
Sin S, like s in mist. Ha H
Shin
/.
SH Waw J W
l r Ya Y
Sad S,*like ss in hiss
J*
— — —
862 ELEMENTARY FACTS OF ARABIC GRAMMAR.
The Arabic letters are used as numbers, thus
1
= I
t = 8 60 = 400
L-J 2 1,= 9 = 70 = 5 °°
7L
= 3 0 = 10 = 80 t = 600
4 = 20 = 90 3 = 700
* = 5 J = 30 i
= 100 = 800
J =rr 6
r
= 40 J 200 =r 900
= — 5° = 3 °° 1000
V1
7 0 t
The Arabs borrowed from the Indians ten signs to express
the ten special numerical figures ; these are :
123
The long vowels are indicated by the three consonants
4 567890
which come nearest them in sound, viz., d, and^ u. \ t,
To indicate the short vowels the Arabs invented the

three following signs :
_j!_ called fatha

,
— a, e (as in pet), etc.
, ,,
kasra — i, (like / in pin)
-dL- , „ damma — u, (like u in bull)
The end of a syllable is marked by the sign called

C X- s s’ L> s’
sukiin, e.g., bal, safsafa.

Jj
The doubling of a letter is expressed by the sign ~
,
called teshdid, e.g., Jy kawwila .
Letters are divided into two classes, sun letters, and moon
letters ;
the sun letters are lU 3 ,
\
u°
^ J (j* All other letters are lunar.
There is only one article in Arabic, viz., the definite
article, al, or as it is commonly pronounced el.
Examples :
the book \'/\\ the money f .L

al-kitab al-fulus
the ring
al-khatim
— — —
ELEMENTARY FACTS OF ARABIC GRAMMAR. 863
Masculine nouns form their plurals in in

w ,
e.g.,
naggar “carpenter/' ,1^3 ,

plur. naggarin ,1^3 ;
this is
the ordinary and regular plural.
Feminine nouns form their regular plural by adding at

w
1
••
d to the singular; thus sitt “lady," plur. sittat
Adjectives form their regular plurals in the same way.

Plurals of this kind are often called “ unbroken." The
“ broken ” plurals are formed in various ways, and to learn
them all is a difficult matter. The following examples indicate
the commoner sorts :
Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.
man men . - book books

Ragil
. ^
Riga l ^ kitab ^ .
kutub 1
heart hearts j>j> letter letters

3
kalb kulub '*—3 *1 * maktub^-r* makatib
boy " boys fire «. fires
^ .
walad aw lad ndr j mran

horse " horses » pasha ,
A .
pashas < ' '
**
husan ahsinah bcisha • bashaw
The adjective follows the noun. Adjectives are made
more emphatic by the addition of one or other of the
following words :
much, many wholly, entirely

giddan khalis
much, many, pro-
nounced ketir
in Egypt
kathir
The comparative is formed by prefixing \ ,
thus :
easy easier light .

. ,
lighter
sahl as ha l khafif akhaff \
ignorant ^ more ignorant

gahil l) aghal Jft'
Or by min
^ hus “ akbar miti YAsuf ” greater than
— — — —
:
86 4 ELEMENTARY FACTS OF ARABIC GRAMMAR.
The superlative is expressed by placing the article before

the comparative, thus al-akbar most great y&W.
The possessive pronominal suffixes are :
Pers. sing. Pers. plur.

oui
TSt 0 na
;
your
2nd cJ < ki 2nd f
7
k or ka
fern.
^ f hum
their f
3rd $ fern. Lto ha 3rd & hum
, tern. huntta
f
Example :
kitdbi my book kitabna our book

kitabak thy book kitabkum your book
f. kitabki thy book ,
kitdbhum their book
kitabuh his book f. kitabhunna
kitabha her book
These suffixes are added to the plural in the same way thus
kutubi kutubak
, ,
etc. ;
they are also added to prepositions, thus :
‘andi with me (I have) lJSxz

£
andak with thee, fern. ‘ andika (thou hast)
‘ anduh with him, fern.
‘
andha (he has) iXXS.
‘ andna with us (we have) 1) X-AC
1
andktim with you (you have)
c
andhum with them, fern.
c
andhunna (they have)
\
“To have ” may also be expressed thus :
li to me 1
ma‘i
u?
lak lik
,
to thee ejj maâk ,
wrzHk <
lahu to him ma'uh
lahd to her ma‘ha

M lô
land to us Ia! mcfna
lakum to you ma‘kum

\
lahwn to them +4 ma^hum

— —— — ) ,
PRONOUNS, NUMERALS. 865
In Egypt we have commonly the following as equivalents

of these :
9 9
to me, with me to us, with us
\j\j *
wiyyai wiyyana ••V
9 s>
to thee, with thee to you, with you
wiyyak
cJb, wiyyakum
&
S' r
to him, with him to them, with them
wiyyahu wiyyahum
/ 9
to her, with her
wiyyaha
The separate personal pronouns are :
Masc. Fem. Common.
1st Pers. sing. ana — — — I
2nd „ anta \ anti LII 0 \

— thou
3^ „ hmva kiya
L
5*' — he, she
1st „ plur. nahnu — — we

2nd „ antum antunna — ye, you
3 fd „ „ hum hunna
> —
Dual common antuma
^ ye two huma they two
The interrogative is expressed by ^ ,

and by hal Jj&.
There are also the pronouns : — man or min ,
who ?
e lj\ what, what kind of?, en ox fen where? In

Egypt we have esh \ what ?
The demonstrative pronouns are : — hadha this (masc.)
fem. hadhi t jj& ;

plur. hulai . Vulgar forms are
dhd, dhi, dol.

The Numerals from i to io are :
Masc. Fem.
1 wahid wdhidah if
2 ethnen ( etnen ) ethneten ( etneten )
3 thalathah ( talatah ) thaldth (

talat
arba'ah arba‘
4 tO'
5 k hams ah khams
3 1
—
866 NUMERALS.
6 sittah sitt
satfah sab‘ V**i

7 ^
8 thamanyah thamdn
4
tisa
9 tis‘ah
c
i o
4
asharah
4
ashr
From ii to 19 they are pronounced in Egypt thus

1 1 hadasher or ihdasher
,
1 6 sittasher
12 etmasher 17 safratasher
13 telattasher 18 tcmantasher
1 4 arbagh tas her 19 tis‘atasher
1 5 khamastasher
These are followed by :
20 4
eshrin 200
30 thalathin 300 thalatdamiyah
40 ‘arba'in 400 arba^miyah « V 1
^
50 khamsin 500 khamsmiyah

CZ"
60 sittin 600 sittamiyah
70 safrin 700 safrannyah
80 thamamn 800 thamanniiyah
90 tiYin 900 tis'amiyah
100 niiyyah 1,000 <2^*
2,000 alfen
4
10,000 ashrat alaf i y
K
20,000 eshrin alf
1,000,000 alf alf Llh

or malyiin ’
“million.”
Fractions are :
—
nusf, or nuss half suV a seventh
thulth , or tult a third thumn or tumn an eighth
<
rub a fourth to 4
<2 a ninth
khums a fifth l
ushr '
c1 tithe
suds a sixth wdhid min one eleventh
khadashan
— — — —
ORDINAL NUMBERS, THE VERB. 867
Ordinal Numbers.
Masc. Fem. Masc. Fem.
First Sixth
al -Awwal JP' al -sadis
Second Seventh
al -tharii
<Luli
a \-sdbi 6
rtU
•
r dxj L
Third Eighth
al -thalith dX-thamin
Fourth t Ninth 1
A,
al -rabi
6
fb al -tasi*
Fifth Tenth
jJa XjJZa lx-
al -khamis al -‘ashir
The greater number of Arabic verbs

are triliteral, i.e., they
contain three the form in which a verb is
rest letters ;
commonly given is in the 3rd pers. sing., masc., perfect, e.g.,

kataba “ he wrote.” The perfect tense is :
Masc. Fem. Com.

Sing. 3rd katala katalat — he (she) killed
2nd katalta katalti — thou has killed
1st — — kataltu I have killed
Dual 3rd katala katalata — they two killed
2nd — — kataltuma ye two killed
Plur. 3rd katalu katalan — they have killed
2nd kataltum kataltunna f
ye have killed
1st — — katalna we have killed
Participial Forms.
Sing. masc. katil fem. katilat
Imperative :
Sing. 2nd masc. uktul fem. uktuli

Dual com. uktula
Plur. 2nd masc. uktulu fem. uktulna
With the personal pronominal object we have : katalm y
katalak ,
katalki ,
kataluh ,
katalha ,
katalna ,
katalkum ,
katalhum ,
etc.
In common speech the pluperfect is formed by prefixing
the auxiliary verb kan to the persons of the perfect kan :
katal (for kan katala ), kanat katalat etc. ,
Present and Future Tenses.

In the large grammars the forms of these tenses are given
under the Imperfect, of which five sets of forms are dis-
3 1 2
—
868 THE VERB, PARTICLES.
tinguished, viz., Indicative, Subjunctive, Jussive, Energetic I,
Energetic II. The forms most commonly used in Egypt

are
Masc. Fem. Com.
Sing. 3rd yaktul taktul he (she) kills, or will kill
2nd taktul taktuli — thou killest, or shalt kill
ist — aktul I kill, or shall kill
Dual 3rd yaktula laktula — They two kill, or will kill
2nd — taktula Ye two kill, or shall kill
Plur. 3rd yaktuln yaktulna They kill, or shall kill
2nd taktuln taktulna — Ye kill, or shall kill
ist — — '
naktul We kill, or shall kill
In Egypt and Syria the present and future tenses often have
a b prefixed to all persons except the ist person plur., when
we have b’yaktul b’ taktul etc. ; the ist person plur. is either
, ,
b’ naktuL or m’naktul.
The Prepositions are :
°r ’an away from

\\ \ in, with, by
"”T bi, J 4
ala upon, above
J l
min
to
from
J ft in
Particles are :
—
if not, except, but for as, according to
\js
iha kama
\
where * always
en kullama
after how much ?
Sxj kam
ba ‘ ad £
between not
ben la
V> . then, next, afterwards why ?
thumma U! lima
perhaps, peradventure except for, unless
rubbama V law la
except, besides not
gher U met
only when
Lii y.*
fakat ?nata
never with
Li kat ma 4
cr*
COMMON PHRASES. 869
but wa 1
l-
amma >Oh, alas ! woe !
or, unless wel

aw O
.. but yd
c; lakin
Common Phrases.
Good day Good morning
naharak sa‘id
Good evening
PP
t .
How
sabah al-kher
are you?
Z-
,
7^
.
misakumbil-kher • * xpvnh
p*h zeyak
esh clioj (jio'
Good night .. * .
leltak sa'idah kef hdlak cli3U- ^Ju,<

Praise be to God, I am very well (literally, in all good),
al-hamdu lilldh bikull kher JJo all
May your day be happy and blessed, no.hdrak saîd wa-

mubarak iff
Please God, you are in good health, inshd Allah takun ft ghdyat
as-sahat \ <L Ic
What is your name ? ismak e ^$\ t
How old are you ? hum sanah umrak 4
lLSjAS. <Lk~:
Peace be upon you es-salam alekum

4
ALJ1
And on you be peace and the blessing of God, Wa 4

alekum
es-salam iva-barakat Allah /ju) \\
I am obliged to you and memnun lak i^f) j\

\
*
Thank you, ikattar Allah kherak l literally,
May God increase your goodness.
Good bye ma 4
as-salamah j-.-o
87 ° ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY.
VOCABULARY.
English word and Arabic English word and Arabic
Transliteration. word. Transliteration. word.
Above All
fok hull
Absent Almond
ghayib lozah
Account, bill Also
hisab ezan
Ache Always
waga‘ daiman
Add (to) tamilli
zad (he added)
Adze America
kadum Amerka
r->
After American
ba‘d Amerkarii
Afternoon (late)
Amulet
‘asr
higab
Afterwards, then Anchovy

balden sanamurah
And /
thumma wa J
Africa
?
Anger
Afrika za‘al
Agent Answer
wakil gawab
Agreeable Antiquities
latif antikat
Ague, chill Apple
bardiyah tafahah
Air Apricot A A
hawa mishmish
.
Alcohol Apron
sbirto
futah
Alighted (he) Arm
nazal & dhira £
ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY. 871

Army Bed
gesh farshah
Around Beer
hawl birah
Arrived (he) Beer
wasab J-5, buzah
Asked (he) Beetle
talab khunfisah
Ate (he) Beetroot
akal bangar
Aunt Beginning
ammah
4
ibtada
Autumn Bell
kharif garas u^rr
Belt
hizam r'>
Bad Between
rada ben c>-
Bad Bicycle
sharr A 4
agalah
Baker
khabbaz
Banana
M Bird
ter
Black
moz jr 0
iswid •v'
Barber Blacking
<b
muzayyin J-s* boyah y
Barley . *•
Blessed
shaîr mubarak
Bat Blind, sightless
witwat a'ma
Bath Blue
hammam f azrak
Beans Boat
ajy safinah
<U-»JL>
fulah
Beat (he) Body
zarab gism
Because Boil
lian salak (he boiled)
872 ENGLISH ARABIC VOCABULARY.

Book Burn
kitdb harak (he burned)
Bottle Busy
kazdzah mashghul 4,
Box (tinof preserved But

food) lakin
Hlbah Butcher
Box gazzar
sanduk Butler
Bread sufragt
‘ esh Butter
Bread samn Ur*""
khubz Butter
(used in Syria) b uXjj
zibdah
Break Button
kasar (he broke) ‘
zirr JJ
Breakfast Buy
futur ishtara (he bought)
Breakfasted (he)
fatar
Bride Cabman
‘artis ‘ arbagi
Bridge Cake
ktibri kahkah
Bridle
ligam C
W Calico
bagtah <Uij
Bring Call
hat (he brought) nadah (he if Jj
called)
Bring Camel
gab gamal
Broom Cap
miknasah tarbush isyj*
Brush Carat
furshah kirat
Buffalo Card
gamusah warakah aL^j
Bug, gnat Carpet, rug
bakkah basat
LLuj
'
Arabic English word and Arabic

English word and
Carpet Cloak
iol<^ burnus
siggadah
Carriage Clothing
4
arabiy ah libs
Cartridge Coal
ycsjs- (Sjj
khartiishah fahm hagar
Castle Coat
kaVat sitra
Cat Coffee
Ls kahwah
kutt
Cavalry Cognac
khel kunyak
Chair Cold
burst L barid "jV
Cheap Colour
rikhts lawn
Cheerful, happy Comb
b misht
Iojul*m^c
mabsut
Cheese Come
>
gabinah ga (he came)
Chess Complete
shitrang tamam
Child .
Contented
w plur.
walad v ’
mabsut
Cholera (liter- Cook (noun)
ally “ yellow tabbakh
air ”) Cork
JlsjSj
hawa asfar fallinah
Christ Corkscrew
\
Al-Masih barrtmah
Church Cotton
kantsah kutn
Cigar Cotton articles
X
sigarah
\
kumash
Clean Country
L,
nadif bilad
Clever Crab
shatir abu galambo
.
874 ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY.

Cream Diamond
kishtah mas
Crocodile Diarrhoea
timsah is hat cM
Cup Dictionary
u
fingan kamus
Cup Difficult
kds sa‘ab
Cupboard .'i
.
Dine
V__
dulab itghadda (he dined)
Dirty
wasikh
Date (fruit) Dishonest
iUJj khdyin
balahah
Daughter Do
bint ‘ amal (he worked)
Day Doctor
nahar hakim
Day Dog
L
yom r* kalb (dog, plur.) S'
Dead man c ^ Dollar

met ryal
Deaf Donkey
atrash homar (plur. hamir)
Dear (expensive) Door
C-oli
ghali bab
Deep Door-keeper
‘amiti bawwab
Delay Dozen
mahlah dastah
£L;J
Delicious Dragoman
jo a!
ladhidh turguman
Dentist . Drink
hakim sinan shurb
Desert Drunk
sahra sakran jj-
Devil Dust \
“
ablls turab
o
ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY. 8 75

Ear Evening
udhn misd
Earth Eye
ard 'en
East
sharq
Easy Falsehood
sahl Je kidhb
Egg Far off
bedah 5f AJJ ba ‘id AA*J ^
Egypt Farewell
Masr ma‘ saldmah
Elephant Farmer
fil Jji fallah
Ell Farrier
.H2JJ
dhira ‘
betar
Embroidery A w •
Father
mikhayyish ab
England Father
bilad al-Ingltz Jo walid
English Fell (he)
Inkltzi waka ‘
Englishman Ferry
ij A*ô
Inglizt ma i
addiyah
Enough * Fever
bass himma L
Fig
bizyadah
ttnah
Enough Filter
kafayah
<LU£ r:'j
zir
Entered Fire
dakhal (he went in) nar
Envelope Fish
zarf
—
4
. ».
samakah
Europe . .u. ». Flag
bilad al- A/rang banderah aju
European . .. Flea
A/rangt barghiit
J

Flower Gift
AjuJU
zahr bakshish
Fly (insect) Give
kl l lS
dhababah adda (he gave)
Food Glass (tumbler)
AjljS
akl kubbayah
Food Glove
tabikh
^-aL
e*
*
kaff
Foot Go
rigl
Forage
rah (he went)
Go out
&
4
alik kharag
Fork God
sMkah Allah
Fountain (natural) Gold
-in* dhabab
Fountain (artificial) Good
sibil tayyib
Fowl Goods
farkhah mal JU
Franc Goose -
afrank L-ioji\ wizzaa

Frenchman Gown
Fransawi thub
Fresh (of meat) Gracious
tazah kai'im
Friend Grape
habib <
‘anb
L-Â^
Frightened Grass
khaif hashish
Fruit Great
fakhah 4
azhn
Greatness
kibriya
Garden Green
ganenah 4aaa^ akhdar
Gazelle Gunpowder
ghazal Jlji barud

Hand
yad
Handkerchief
Ju
Hot
har
Hot
>
AA.'C
mandil sukhan
Hammer Hotel
shakiish l lokandah (Ital.
Happy locanda)
sa‘id Hour
Hard sa ‘ ah
gdmid House
L^-JJ
Haste bet
ista'agil House
Hat dar
<lLjJ
burnetah y How ?
Head azai
\
ras How
Health kef
sihhah How much ? s
Hear kam
simi* (he heard) Hungry
Heart ga‘an
kalb Husband
Heaven gdz
sama
Heavy Ice
thakil
Hell
*
talg
Ice-cream
£
\^0j A3
gahannam j
dandurmah
Here 111
[jjb
hand marid u*ir*
Hold 111
6
misik (he held) ay an
Honey 1 ~ Indigestion
‘a sal tukhmah
Horse Influenza
husan ding
Hospital Ink
isbitdliyah hibr
j

Inkstand Knife
dawah sakkin
Inn
khan
Inside Lad
guwwah *sr shabb Oli,
Interpreter Lady ~
(see Dragoman) silt

Iron Lake
A*
hadtd birkah
Island Lamb
gazirah itfr khariif
Isthmus Lame
barzakh t)-r- a rag
1,
Lamp
kandil J Ajj
Jam Large
marabba kabir
Jeweller Last
gawdhirgi akhir
Judge Laundress
kadi
•
p:
ghassalat cJ Lui.
Lazy
kislati JL»£
Key Lead (of pencil,
miftah rasas
Killed (he) Learned
k atala
mawwata Leather
LUy<
gild
King Leave
malik taraka (he left)
Kiss Lefthand
bosah shamal JUa
Kitchen Leg
matbakh sdk JjL;
Knew (he) Lemon
‘ araf •-V s
lamunah

Length Match (lucifer)

tul JA kibrit
Letter Mattress
maktub farshah
Liar Meat
L-j\
kadhdhdb lahm
Light Medicine
nar
Ai
dawa V
Likeness Melon
milhi batikhah
Lily Merchant
susan cr'r-' taggar > *
Linen Milk
til laban
Loaf Money changer
<
ragkif j sarraf
Long Month
tawil JvA shahr
Luck Moon
bakht kamar r*
Lunch More
\ Ai kaman
ghada
Morning
sabah
Mad Mother
magniin umm r
Magazine Mountain
makhzan gabal Jr^T
Man Mouth
3
insan fum r
Many Mule
J.XJ
kethir baghl
Mare
faras
Market Nail
suk dr 3
mismar
Marriage Name
gawaz ism
88o ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY.

Near Opened (he)

kartb fatah
Orange
A
Necessary ^3 \&jjj
lazim burtakdnah
Needle Outside
ibrah
XjA barrd £
New Owl
J bumah
gadid
News Ox
khabar tur jy
Night
lei
jjj
North Pair
shamdl zawg
Not
Paper
la
warak dji
lam Passport
r>
les
tadhkarah
Pay
Not
lissaa
yet
Q dafa‘ (he paid)
Pear _ /
Now kummitra L
alan J*
Pen
Number
kalam V
‘
adad
Pencil
kalam rasas
Obelisk
Pepper
misallah Jiii
filfil
Obliged, grateful
Perfume
mamniin
‘ atr
Officer
Perhaps
zabit
yimkin iAA.
Oil
zet
rubbamd if
Ointment Physician
dahan hakim
Old Piastre
kadim kirsh
ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY. 88l

Pig Poultry
khanzir firakh if
Pigeon Pound
hamam rati (plur. aria/) ji,
I
Pillow Pretty
b A»XS<5
makhaddah kawayyis
Pin Price
dabus thaman cA*
Pincers Price
l jX~i
malkat si r
Pipe / A Priest
shnbuk basis
Pistachio Prison
fistukah sign
Pistol Prophet
tabangah nabi
Plate Purse
,jo
sahn kis
Pleasant
malih
Plum Quickly
barktikah sariân
Poor Quilt
fakir
jj&i
lahaf
uJUl
Poor
c
maskin ,
Pork Radish
lahm al-khanzir figlah
Porter Railway
hamm&l JU^ sikkat hadid
A-' A.P'
shayyal l A Rain
Postage stamp matar J
warak al-bustah Razor
Post-Office ?nus
diwan Readily
halan
Su.
al Bustah
Potato Ready
ILlk,
batata ha dir >r
3 K

Red Sailor
ahmar bahri LSj^r
Religion Sait
dtn
Remainder
malh
Saw
t
Rest
baki nazar
Say
(he)
P
rahah kal (he said)
Rhubarb Scales
idwind mizan
Ribbon School
sharit kuttub
Rich School
ghana madrasah
Ride Scissors
rikib (he rode) makass
Rifle .. 6>„ » Scorpion
bundukiyah ‘ akrabah
Righteous Sea
sadik v.'L bahr
Right hand See
JlJ*
yaniin ska/ ( he looked)
River Sent (he)
nahr J* ba'ath
Road Servant
sikkah khadim
Road Shave
tarik halak (he shaved)
Room Shawl
aodah shal
Rope Shekh j
habl shekh
Rose Ship
wardah markib
Shirt
katfiis
Saddle Shoe
sarg guzmah

Shop Stick
1^2 £.
kukan (
asa
Short Stocking \
kasir gnrdb * .yy *
Sick Stop
IaJLjI
‘ayydn istanna
Silent (be) Straight
uskut c dughri
Silk Street
‘
harir shari
Silver .. w .
Strong
faddah kawwa
Sister Strong
uhkt shadid A.* Am
Small Sugar
daghir
Smoke
jJ^X*
sukkar
Summer
A
\
~
dukhkhdn u stf
Soap Sun
sabun shams
Soldier / Sunset
l
askar maghrub
Son \
Supper m.
‘
ibn ashd
Soul Sword
nafs sef
Li.U
Soup
•
shiirbah
South Table
ijJsJ
gunub tarabezah \J&
Spirit Tailor
ruh Z?j khayyat
Spoon Talked (he)
tnaVakah takallam
Spring of year Tea
rabi 6
•> shdi
Star Temple (ruined)
nagm \
birbah
3 K 2
’
88 4 ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY.

Tent True .
..
khemd hakik
There Turkey
henak ar-Runu L5^J”
W
Thimble
k is tab an Umbrella
Thing shamsiyah
A;>-
hagah Uncle
Thread
khet
iaAsv.
'amm V
Under
Throw ta/it
rama (he threw) Unoccupied (empty,
Ticket of a cab)
tadhkarah
Li
fazi
o
Time (a) Useful
marrah ( marraten ,
twice) V* nafi‘ e ii
lj
;
Time Useless
Ll—-vS^ cJVLaJ
wakt battdl
Tin can
safihah Vase
Tired tasah
ta'bdn u. Village
jJj
To-day balad
jjl
al-yom Vinegar
Tomb khall
kabr Violet (flower)
To-morrow banafsagah
b'ukrah
Took (he)
Wages
akhadh
ugrah
Town Washed (he)
AAJ A"0
madmah ghasal
Traveller
AVatch (timepiece)
musafir J Ax-Lo
sa ah
l
Tree A
V
a Water
shagarah
wi
md ;
U
Trousers .. ~ ^
bantalien muyyali
i
ENGLISH-ARABIC VOCABULARY. 88s

Water-bottle Winter
Hi.
kullah shita
Water-carrier Wise
l
dkil
J.iL
sakka
Week Woman
asbu ‘ mar ah 1
Weight Wonderful
agib
wazn ‘
Well Wood
A> hatab
bir
Went (he)
Wool
(
5^?
mas hi suf
West Work
l
arb
£
amal
Wheat World
IjJ J
kamh dunya
Whip
karbdg
White
abyad Year
sanah
Why?
le
Yellow
jk*e\
asfar
Wide
wets
l
‘‘l?
Yes
aiwah
Wind
Ah
Window
naâm
Yesterday
r
shabak Cj Hi ambdrill Aa^c !
Wine Youth
nibit gada‘
COOK’S
NILE STEAMERS AND DAHABEAHS.
THOS. COOK & SON . . .
have unequalled facilities for Travellers visiting EGYPT.

Their Fleet of THIRTEEN LARGE PASSENGER STEAMERS
consists of the finest vessels on the Nile, specially built,
luxuriously appointed throughout, and fitted with every
modern convenience.
TOURIST SERVICE.-— These large and handsomely fitted Steel Steamers

make Three Sailings per week, one from Cairo and two from Assiut,
the Sailings from Cairo beginning in November, and from Assiut in
January.
EXPRESS SERVICE. —The Express Steamers leave Cairo Twice a Week,
the Friday departures commencing in November, and the Monday
departures in December.
There is thus a Service of FIVE COOK'S STEAMERS PER WEEK
—
ascending the Nile to the First Cataract during the Season three from Cairo
—
and two from Assiut calling at all points of interest on the Nile, in connection
with which complete arrangements for sightseeing and excursions are made,
enabling Travellers to visit to the best advantage all the famous
Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, Ruined Cities, etc.

In connection with these services there are Two Services a Week by
First-class Steamers from the First to the Second Cataract, with Through
Bookings to Khartoum, The Sudan and Uganda.
PRIVATE STEAMERS AND DAHABEAHS.-Thos. Cook & Son
have several Small Steamers for charter at moderate rates, specially
adapted to the requirements of Families, Private Parties, Sporting Parties,
etc., accommodating from six to fifteen passengers, with competent
crews, and thoroughly equipped. Also a large fleet of First-class Sailing
Dahabeahs, the best on the Nile.
TOURS IN PALESTINE AND SYRIA.

PALESTINE but a 30 hours’ journey from Cairo, and interesting Tours in
is
the Holy Land and Syria may be made by taking steamer to Jaffa, Haifa,
or Beyrout, at each of which ports Thos. Cook & Son have their own
offices and staff, as well as at Jerusalem.
Full Particulars are given in the Illustrated Palestine Pamphlet which,

together with the Nile Pamphlet, may be had on application to—
THOS. COOK & SON

[Managing Agents for THOS. COOK & SON (EGYPT), LIMITED]
LONDON : Ludgate Circus. CAIRO : Near Shepheard’s Hotel
INDEX
A. PAGE
PAGE ‘Abd al-‘All 390
A 68 ‘Abdal- ‘Aziz 247
Aah-hetep, Queen ... 182, 190, ‘Abd al-Kader Muhammad
2 1 8, 671 Imam Wad Iiabftba 276
Aahmes I (Amasis) 190, 219 ‘Abd al- Karim 841
Aahmes, Queen 219 ‘Abd-Allah 256
Aahmes (Amasis), son of ‘Abd-Allah (Father of the
Abana, Tomb of 712 Prophet) ... 323
Aahmes, son of Pen-nekheb, ‘Abd Allah ‘Omar, Khalifah
Tomb of ... 7*3 ‘Abd-Allah (the Khalifah) 259,
Aahmes, Tomb of 600 260, 262-3, 346, 779 835 ,
Aah-mes-sa-pa-ari 190, 219 ‘Abdallah ibn Sa‘ad ... 240

Aam ... 727 ‘Abd-Allah ibn Tahir 441
Aamu... 596, 727 ‘Abd-Allah Wad Al-Hassan 842
Aa-pehti-Set... 501 ‘Abd-Allah wad Sud 824
Aa-qenen-Ra 190 ‘Abd-allahi 344
Aaron ... 557 567 Abdallat Shekhs
»
776
Aaru, Fields of 119 ‘Abd al-Latif 467
Aasith 716 ‘Abdal- Malik 241 293
Aat-tcha - Mutet (Madlnat ‘Abd al-Muttalib 323
..
Habu) 424, 647-55
‘Abd Ar- Rahman 443
..
Aati ... 67
Abercromby, Sir Ral h 249 384
Ab^ I 2 I
,
Aba Abkah 788

Island ... 844 Ablutions
Aba, Tomb of 730 33 1 334 >
Abode of the Gods .. ... 116

Ab-aa 217 Abt
‘Ababdah 289 67
Abacus I73> 175, 176, 177
Abu (Aswan, Syene) 1, 2, 22,
Abai or Abawi, River 32, 40 42, 43, 67,

79, 839,
842 70 425 ,
Abba Besa ... Abu al-Akhdar 411

603
Abba Benus ... 58 Abd ‘Ali al-Mansur 244
‘Abbas II, Hilmy 254,261 AbuBakr ... ’
239, 327, 343

Abbas Pasha 89, 251, 564, 569
: Abh Bakr Mazhar, Mosque of 451
“ Abbas ” Steamer, wrecked 345, Abu Dhahab ... ... 249
803 Abu Dis ... ... ... 804
‘Abbasid Khalifahs 241 AbCi Fatma ... ... ... 792
‘Abbasiyah Gadidah ... 844 Abu Hadrl, Monastery of ... 731
‘Abbasiyah Quarter of Cairo 460 Abu Hagar ...
.. ... 843
— 3 . ,
888 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Abu Haggag ... * ... 628 Abydos (Abtu) ( contd
Abu Hamad (or Hamed) ... 261, Tablet ... 487, 609
778, So Temples 222, 607
Abu Hamad-Karema Railway Abyssinia ... 81 26l, 778
800-I Acacia 49
Abu Hammad ... ... 4 I I Achoris 648
...
Abu Hanifah ... ... 341 Achwa River •

853••
Abu Haraz ... ... 840 Acre (Akka) ... 246, 250
Abu Honnes, Convent of 597 Ad-Dailah, Oasis of... 512
Abu Karar ... ... 853 Ad-Damar ... 780, 812
Abu Klea ... 792 Ad-Der, Cemetery at ... 710
Abu Klea ... 257 Ad-Duwem ... ... 843
Battle of 257-8 Adh-Dhahir Beybars I,
Wells of •
795
•
Mosque of. .
294, 300
Abu Kru (Gubat) ... 258 Adowa, Battle of ... ... 261
Abu Kuka ... 849 Adultery (punishment) 338 ...
Abu Kussi ... 794 ‘Adwah 585 ...
Abu l-‘Asakir ... 241 Aegyptus 66 ...
Abu 1-Hasan Ali ...

f
... 242 ZElian ... 600
Abu 1- Kasim... ... 242 Hilius Gallus... 234, 647, 775
Abu 1-Misk Kafur ... ... 242 yRmilius Rectus ... ... 235
Abu Musa Harun ... 241 ZEschylus, Works of ... 374
Abu Roash, Pyramids of 470, 481 Agam Deldi, Portuguese
Abu Sa‘id ... 244 Bridge at ... ... ... 842
Abu Salih ... 73a, 739 794 , Agang 844
Abu Salim ... ... 804 Agricultural Bank ... ... 73
Abu Sar al-Kibli 857 •• Agriculture 52-6, 73, 1 55, 783
Abu Sargah, Church of 461 Aha 212
Abu Simbel ... 2, 43 Tomb of ... ... 617
Temples of 175, 222, Ahmad ... ... ... 247
759-65 Ahmad Arabi, see Arabi.
Abukir Bay ... 249, 384 Ahmad Bey ... ... ... 264
Abukir, Lake 46, 387 Ahmad Fadil 262, 842, 844
Abukir, Village of ... 384 Ahmad ibn Tulun 241, 416, 444
Abusir Mosque of ... 293, 300
Pyramids 214, 470, 481 Ahmad Kamal Bey ... ... 427
Rock 770, 788 Ahmad the Carpenter ... 488
Abu-Sir (Busiris, Pa-Asar) ... 68 Ahmadiyah Dervishes ... 355
Abu’s Sefen— Ahnas Herakleopolis 68, 59 a
Chapel of 463 Ai 221

Der of ... 461 Tomb of 600, 690
AbCi Suwer ... ... 408 Aird, J. & Co.
, 92, 94 , 95 96, ,
Abu Talib 323 99 >03 ,
AbCi Tamim Ma‘add 243 Aird, Mr. ... 806

Abu Tig ... 601 ‘Aishah 324
Abu Tisht ... 612 Ajok ... 845
Abu Zed ... 844 ‘
Akabah ... 273, 274
Abu Zena, Mare of... ... 552 Akashah 261, 787, 790
AM Zeyd, Story of... 319 Aker ... 129
Abydos (Abtu) 55, 1 1 2, 209, O
222, 424, 60512 Akerblad *35
Necropolis ... 606 Akermi ... 507
INDEX. 889
PAGE PAGE
Akhsemenes ... 229 Alexander the Great 199, 230,
Akhet 50 23 373, 374, 506
Akhmim 52 67 603
, , ,
Shrine of 630
Necropolis of ... 425 Alexander II ... 23 I, 564, 635
Akita, Gold Mines of 752 Alexander IV 199
‘Akka (Acre) 246 Alexander, Bishop of
Siege of... 250 Alexandria ... ... 237
Aksunkur, Mosque of 294 JGO Alexander, Boyd ... ... 785
Aku, Tomb of 29 1 Alexandria ... I, 12 14 22 , ,
Alabaster <>3 70 , 71 231 236 237

. , , ,
Al-Abidiyah ... 804 238, 242, 372-80

Al-‘Adid 244 245 ,
Arab Conquest 240
Bombardment ... 254
Al-Adil II 245 Canopic Gate
Al-‘Adil Katbugha ... 246 ... ... 378
Catacombs 378, 379
Al-‘Adil Salamish ... 246 Christians of ... 375
••
Al-‘Adil Seyf-ad-din 245 Cleopatra’s Needles -• 384
Al-Ahram 470 Climate... 32, 34
Al-Amin 24 I Customs and Quay and
Al-Amir 244 Port Dues ... ... 12
Al-‘Arish 39, 70, 71 Docks built by Isma’il
Treaty of 249 Pasha... 376
Al-Ashraf Bars-Bey, Mosque Foreign business houses 290
of ... 300 Foundation ... ... 373
Al-Ashraf Inal, Mosque 300 of... Gymnasium ... ... 378
Al-Ashraf Khalil 246 Heptastadium ... ... 376
Al-Ashraf Kuguk 247 Hippodrome ... ... 378
Al-Ashraf Musa 245 Jewish colony ... ... 374
Al-Ashraf Sha ‘ban ... 247 Museum and Library ... 374,
Al-Ashraf Tuman-Bey 248 375. 376
Al-‘Askar 416 Museum of Grseco-Roman
Alati (male singer) ... 317 Antiquities 383
... ...
Al-‘Ayat 583 Pharos ... 376

Al-Azhar Mosque ... 242 294 , , Pompey’s 378
Pillar
...
300, 306, 417, 441, 443 Population ... 289, 373

Al-‘Aziz 243, 451 Riot in 1882 ... ... 254
Al-‘Aziz <
Othman 245 Serapeum ... ... 377
Al- ‘Aziz Yusuf 248 Soma or Mausoleum 378 . .
.
Al-Baguat 532-5 Storming of (1798) ... 249

Al-Balyana ... 604 Theatre... ... ... 378
Tomb at K6m ash-Shukafah
Al-Barriab ... 842 379-83
Al-Barshah, Tombs at 598 Trade 373
Albert Edward, Lake 854 Alexandria, Battle of .. 249
Albert N’yanza, or Lake Alexandria to Cairo... 387-92
Albert ... 7 6 , 78 , 853-4 Alexandrian Library 232, 374
Al-Buk‘ah ... 835 Destruction ... 375, 377
Al-Buweb 557 Al-Faiz ... ... ... 244
Al-Dabbah (Debbeh) 794 Al-Fardan ... ... ... 402
Al-Dab‘ih 612 Al-Fashar ... 780
Aleppo 244, 248 Al-Fustat, see Cairo.
Alexander 136, 139 Al-Gazirah 720, 756
—
890 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Al-Ghuri, Mosque and College Al-Ma‘m(in ... 241
of ... 45 G 465 .
Al-Mandarah 585
Al-Gisr 402 Al-Mandid (Mendes) 69,,230,502
Al-Gizah 69 Al-Manshah (Psoi) ... ... 604
Al-G6z 824 Al- Mansur ... 241
Al-Hadi 241 Al- Mansur Abu Bakr ... 247
Al- Hafir 792 Al-Mansur ‘All ... 347
Al-Hafiz 244 Al-Mansur ‘Ali ibn Aybek ... 246
Al-Hagg Muhammad Mu- Al-Mansur Kala‘un ... ... 246
hassib Musa Ash-Shairi 619 Al-Mansur Lagin ... 246
Al- Hakim 243 Al-Mansur Muhammad 245 , 247
Mosque of 294, 300, 439 *
Al-Maridany, Mosque of 294, 300
45 i Al-Markhah ... ... 552
Al-Hibah (Het-suten) 67 Al-Maslub ... 585
Al-Hirah '
322 Al-Megah ... 827

Al-Hosh 717 Al-Menashi ... 392
Al-Husen, see Husen. Almohades ... 344
Al-Huweyat, Wells of 794 Al-Mo‘tasim ... 241
‘All Bey 249 Al-Mo‘tazz ... 241
‘All, cousin of the Prophet 343 Almsgiving ... 335
‘All, son-in-law of the Prophet Al-Mu‘allakah 415 463 ,
240, 343 Al-Mu‘ayyad ... 247

‘All Dinar ... 780 Mosque of 295, 297 298, >
Aliab 813 ... 300, 307, 45 1 452 »
Al-Ka‘a, Plain of... ... 559 Al-Mu‘ayyad Ahmad ... 248

Al-Kab (Nekheb) 67, 425, 710-4 Al-Mu‘azzam Turanshah 245
Al-Kahirah, see Cairo. Al-Mu‘izz ... 242
Al- Kamil Muhammad 245 Al-Mu‘izz Aybek ... 246
Al-Kamil Sha‘ban ... ... 247 Al-Mu‘izz Ma‘add ... ... 294
Al-Kanatir ... 464 Al-Muntasir ... 241
Al-Kantarah ... ... 402 Al-Musta‘in ... 241, 247
Al-Kar’ah 515 Al-Musta‘li ... ... 244
Al-Kasr 5 ! 3 528
>
Al-Mutawekkil 241, 464
Al-Kaswa ... 240 Al-Muzaffar Bebars II 247
Al-Katai 241, 416 Al-Muzaffar Haggi ... 247
Al-Kes (Kasa, Kynonpolis) 67 Al-Muzafifar Kutuz ... ... 246
256, 263, 780
’
Al-Khargah, Oasis of, see Al-‘Obed ...
Rhargah. Alphabet
Al-Khattarah ... 720 Arabic ... ... 861
Al-kulah, Pyramid of ... 710 Egyptian 137-8
Al-Kur’an, see Kur’an. Al-Ragnamah 43
Al-Kusiyah (Cusae) ... 67, 600 Al-Tundubah ••• 515
Al-lahun (Illahun), Pyramid of Alum... ... 63
216, 589 Alumbal ... 845
AULewa The Flag( )
... 275 Al-Urdi or New Donkola ... 793
Almah (Female Singer) 317 Al-Uzza 323
Al-Madawwah 554 Al-Walid I 241
Al-Mahair ... 55 i Al-Walid II ... 241
Al-Mahamid ... 710 Al-Wastah ... • •• 585
Al-Maharret ... 554 Al-Wathik 241
Al-Mahdi ... 241 Al-Wateyah, Pass of 569
Al-Makaukas ... 240 ‘Amadah, Temple of • •• 757
91
, 1
INDEX. 891
PAGE PAGE
Amalarick ... ... 244, 245 Amen-meses ... 193, 223, 693
‘Amara, Gebel Arashkol ... 843 Tomb of... ... ... 693
Amarah, Temple of 790-
. .
.
Amen-netek, Pyramid of ... 821
“ Amasis ” Steamer ... ... 25 Amenophis I 190,219,718,
Amasis, General of Apries ... 228 720
Amasis (King) ... ... 388 Amenophis II 191, 220, 625,
Amasis I (Aahmes) 190,219,712 633, 637, 643, 791, 824
Amasis II 184, 198, 228, 503 Tomb ... 309, 426, 687-8
Amasis, son of Abana, Tomb Amenophis III (Memnon) 174*
of ... 712 191, 220, 236, 625, 629,
Amba Shenudah ... ... 602 630, 633, 647, 688, 690,
Ambukol Rapids ... ... 790 7 iG 743 772 789, 79 i
, ,
Ambukdl Wells ... 788,794 Birth —Reliefs at Luxor 630

Ameilhon ... ... ... 135 Colossi at Thebes 235, 236,
Amelineau, M. 610,611,711 647
Amemit ... ... ... I 1 Court at Luxor... ... 629
Amen 1 61
17, 124, 129, 1 Mummy... ... 688, 690
168, 17 I, 219, 220, Pillar ... ... ... 174
229, 230, 467, Temples ... ... 791
506, 685 Tomb of ... ... 690
Ritual ... ... ... 171 Amenophis IV (Khu-en-Aten) 1 18,
Secret Ordinances ... 530 180, 192, 221, 599, 600,
Temples 168, 632-4, 814 625, 642, 657, 707
Amen-akha, Pyramid of ... 819 Mummy... ... ... 707
Amen-arit, Queen, Pyramid Statue 642
.
of 774. 818 Tomb ... ... ... 600
Amenartas, Queen ... ... 648 Amen-Ra 49, 67, 68, 69, I 16,
Temple 651 1 17, 1 18, 124, 129, 226,
Amen-em-apt ... ... 224 621, 686
Tomb of... ... ... 680 Hymn to ... ... 425
Amen-em-hat I ... 187, 216, Seal of Brotherhood ... 706
583, 755 Amen-rut or Amyrtaeus ... 230
Amen-em-hat II ... 188,216 Amen-Shipelta, Queen, Pyra-
Amen-em-hat III 88, 188,216, mid of ... ... ...819
586, 789 Ament ... 68
Statues ... 587 Amentet 120, 685
Tomb 588
Amen-em-hat IV ... 188,217 American Mission 21, 391, 420-1
Amenemhat, Tomb of 601, 620, 846
679, 680
Amen-em-heb, Tomb of ... 678 Hospital at Tanta ... 39
Amen-her-khepesh-f, Tomb Schools 21,' 362, 285, 601,
of 683 620
Amen-hetep (a Priest), Tomb Am-f-khent 67
of 679 Am-f-peh 67
Amen-hetep Kings, see Amen- Aminah (Mother of the
ophis. Prophet) ... 323
Ameni or Amenemhat, Tomb Aminah (Mother of the
of ... ... 594 Mahdi) ... 344
Amen-Khetashen, Pyramid of 821 Am-Khent ... ... 68, 69
Amen-meri-en Heru-em-heb 192 Ammehet 123
Amen-mes, Mummy pits and Ammianus Marcellinus 377 39 2 ,
tomb of ... ... ... 680 Ammon ... ... ... 4°

1 .. 1
892 INDEX.
Amnis Trajanus ... ... 236 Annu-shemat (Hermonthis)

Am-peh ... 68, 69 .... 67, 126, 708
‘Amr '
283, 459, 464, 465 Anok ... ... 845

Mosque of 293, 300, 305, Anopheles Mosquito ... 403,
440, 442 5 * 4 , 557
‘Amr ibn al-‘Asi 240, 376, Anpu... *24, 130
395 , 4 * 5,776 Anpu (Nome) 67
Amset (Akeset) ... 124, 129 Anqet 124, 130
AmsuorMenu 67, 1 24, 129,603 Antaeopolis (Kau al Ivahir) 60
Amsu (or Menu)-nekht, Tomb Antaeus, Temple of 601-2
of 67 6, 677 ‘Antar, Stable of 594
Amulets 114,1 20, 1 59, I 60, 429 Antat (Anaitis) *24, 130
Cross .. 565 Antef... 216, 218
Kur’an, copies of ... 312
Amu-netcheh, Tomb of 677, 678 Antefa 215
Amusements... ... 316-9 Antef-aa 215, 216, 21 8, 641
An 187 Antef-aqer, Tomb of 679
Anab ... ... ... ... 2 17 Anthropomorphists ... 375
Anastasius ... ... ... 239 Anti Perfume ... 859
Anatomy 1 53, 433 Antinoe 594-7
Anba Bishai, Monastery of 5 09 Antinoopolis . . ... 236
Ancestor Worship 122, 213 Antinous 236, 597
Ancestors, Tablet of 635 Antiochus the Great ••• 233
Ancient Empire 212 5 Antiochus IV 233
Andreossi 509 Antiquities ... 13, :
21, 26, 56
Andrews, Dr. 60 .
Scarcity... ... 458
Aneb-hetch ... 68 Antiu... 553
Angels 328 Antoninus (Caracalla) ... 208
Anglo - French Agreement, Antoninus, Martyr ... , 405 548
.
1904 269, 291, 364 Antoninus Pius 207, 236, 527.
An-Her 67, 68 532, 648
An-PIeru 124 Antony ... 234, 375, 377
Ani 124,716 Antuf... ... ... ... 160
Anibah 757 Anu or Heliopolis (On and
Animals ... 57 58, 61
, Aven) ... 212
Cult of ... 114, 115 Anubis 67, * * 5 ,
* * 9 ,
Anit ... 124, 129 *24, 129, * 30 538 ,
Ankh ... 430 Anubis (Nome) ... 601

Ankh-nes-nefer-ab-Ra, Prin Ape-men 3*9
cess 64 Apepa I 89, 218
An-Nasir 446 Apepa II 218
An-Nasir Ahmad 247 Aperiu (Hebrews) 860
An-Nasir Hasan 247 Apes, Tomb of the 690
An-Nasir (in the Citadel), Aphorisms . . 161
Mosque of ... 300 453 Aphroditopolis (Tebu) 67
An-Nasir Muhammad 246, 247, Aphroditopolis (Tep-Ahet) ... 68 ,
248 585
Kur’an of ... ...311 Api, Tomb of 680
Mosque of ... 294,300 Apis Bull (Asar-Hep,Sarapis) 1 18,
Annu (On, Heliopolis), see 124, 129, 130, 212, 229,
Heliopolis. 236, 485, 492 508, 737 ,
— —
INDEX. 8 93
PAGE PAGE
Apis Bull (Asar-Hep, Sarapis) Archaic Period 183, 209-212,
(contd.) 7IG7I3
Mausoleum or Serapeum Archangels ... 328
492-3 Architecture and Art
Temple ... 239, 375, 385 Ancient Egypt 163
Apis (Pa-neb-Amt) ... ... 68 Muhammadan 303-4
...292,
Apollinopolis Magna, see Edfii. Ardeb Al- Maryam ... ... 845
Apollinopolis Parva (Kus) ... 617 Arghul 318 .
Apollonius, Bishop of Tanis 502 Argin 260

Apostasy (punishment) ... 338 Ari-hes-nefer, Temple of ... 740
Apricots ... ... ... 49 Aristophanes of Byzantium 374
Apries (Uah-ab-Ra) 1 98, 228, 486 Arithmetic ... 156
Apt ... ... ... ... 124 Ar ‘«s 237, 375
Apti ... ... ... 620... Arkenkherei, Pyramid of 819. . .
Aptu ... ... ... 616... Arko, Island of ... 792...
Apu 52, 67, 425, 603 Armant 603, 708

Armenians ... ... ... 290
Ap-uat ... 67, 124, 129
Armoji 851
Aquaa, Stele of ... ... 517
Aquarium at Gazirah ... 44 °
Army, Egyptian 266
Cost 363
Aqueducts, Underground ... 536
Improved Condition 357, 4 I I
Arab Cemeteries ... ... 732
Arab Hag 793
Army of Occupation, Cost . . . 270
£ Arq-Amen (Ergamenes) 232, 740,
Arabi Dafa a Allah ... ... 849
Arabi Pasha (Ahmad Arabi) 218, 750 774 ,
Arq-neb-Amen, Pyramid of 823

253 254, 255, 410, 41
,
1 , 550
Ar- Rashid 241
...
Arabia ... ... ... 249
Arabian or Eastern Desert... Ar-Rikah ... 481-,3, 756-7
31
2 Arses ... ... 231
Arabic Language
Alphabet ... 86l Arsinoe 136, 200
Grammar 86l 9 Arsinoe I 232
Phrases ... ... 869 Arsinoe II ... 232
Vocabulary 87O-85 Arsinoe III 201, 232
108 Arsinoe (Crocodilopolis) ... 232,
Arabs ... ...
Architecture and Art 292 ...

...
586, 708
Character 323
Arsu ... 224
Artacama ... 232
Conquest of Egypt 240
Desert Arabs (Bedawin) 70 ,
Artaxerxes I ,
198, 229
289 Artaxerxes II ... 229
Artaxerxes III (Ochus) 229, 231
History, Sketch of 322-3
Artekio (Island of Faras) 39
Pagan Customs... 337 ,
Sinai, Arabs of... 544 766-7

Artemis (Pakhet) 127, 378, 594
Sudan, Arabs of 781
Arts—
.
Writings 58
Muhammadans. Ancient Egypt 179-83, 214
see also
Aramean Papyri 725 Muhammadan 292, 303-4
Aryandes ... ... 4
Arbagi ... ... ... 840 .
.
Arba t
in or Forty Days’ Road 522 Asar (Osiris), see Osiris.
Arbazos ... ... ... 232 Asar-Hep (Sarapis, the Apis

Arcadius ... ... ... 238 Bull) 124, 130
Archaeology, etc., Expendi- Asasif, Necropolis of ... 671
ture on ... ... ... 270 Ascension of the Prophet ... 339
4
1
894 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Aschenson ... ... ... 5 i i Atbara, Battle of 262, 778, 81 I
Asenath ... ... ... 579 Atbara Junction ... ... 805
Aset (Isis), see Isis. Atbara River 74, 79, 82, 810-I
Aset (Wife of Thothmes III) Bridge ... ... ... 81 I
219,
Atchab or Merbapen ... 610
657, 659
Asfun al-Mata‘nah ... ... 708 Atcha-khar-Amen, Temple of 746
Asfun Canal ... 98 A tern or Temu, see Temu.
Ashmunen ( Hermopolis, Atemu 125, 130
Khenemu)... ...55, 67, 598 Aten (Sun-god) 22
18,... I
Ash-ShafPy, Mosque of ... 300 Destruction of Shrine... 222
Ashur-bani-pal(Assurbanipal) 226, Atet ... ... 186
227, 486, 773 Atet, Widow of Nefermaat,
Asna or Esna 42, 43, 81, 95-8, Tomb of 584
277, 357, 708-10 Atfih (Aphroditopolis) 68, 585
Asphynis (Hetsfent)... ... 708 Atf-neter Ai neter heq Uast 192
Asm -meri- Amen, Pyramid of 822 Athanasius 237, 375
Ass 57 Athenians ... 229
Assa 187,771,859 Athens 4
As-Saffah 241 Athi ... ... 68
As-Sabd Baraka Khan ...246 Athribis
As-Salih Ayyub
68, 392
... ... 245 Atiai al-Barud ... 388
As-Salih Haggi 247 Atmu or Tern 114, 115
As-Salih Isma‘il ... ... 247 Atsiz ... 244 ..
As-Salih, Mosque of 294, 300 At-Teb 257
As-Salih Muhammad ... 247 Au-ab-Ra (Heru) 497
As-Salih Salih ... ... 247 Augustus 203-4, 234, 615, 701
Assemani ... ... ... 509 Aurelian 237
As-Sirat, Bridge 330 Aurelius Antoninus 207 .
As-Sur, Pyramids of ... 823 Austrian Roman Catholic

Assurbanipal, see Aslnir-bani- Mission 846, 847. 849, 850
pal.
Avaris (Het-Uart) 217,218, 219,
Assyrian Sway in Egypt 226-7
590
Ast (Isis), see Isis. Aven, see Heliopolis.
Ast (Queen), Tomb of ... 683 A vidius Cassius ... ... 236
Astes 125 Avillius Flaccus ... ... 235
Astronomy ... ... *55-6 Awlad Nuh Dervishes ... 355
Asua River ... ... 852 Ayrton, Mr. E. R. ... ... 66
Aswan or Uswan (Syene) ... I, 2, ‘Ayun Musa (Wells of Moses) 550
22, 32, 40, 42, 43. 67, Ayyub 245
70, 425, 722-35 Ayyubid Khalifahs ... ... 245
Asw&n Dam ... 33, 38, 94, 95, A-Zande ... ... ... 111
98-105, 265, 267, 357. 740 Azazel or Iblis ... ... 329
Raising... 102-3,275, Az-Zafir ... ... ... 244
276, 745 Az-Zahir Barkuk ... ... 247
Asyut (Saut, Lycopolis, Per- Az-Zahir Rukn ad-din Bebars 246
Anpu) ... 67,70,71,92,
215, 425, 600-1 B.
Barrage... 92-5,102,265, Ba 121, 222
268, 357 Baal (Bar) 125
Pottery 3 1 1 Bab al-‘Azab.. 454
Training College ... 601 Bab al-Futuh 417
. —
INDEX. 89s
PAGE PAGE
Bab al-Mandib 106, 107 Balias 6lO
Bab an-Nasr 417 Bamia 51
Bab Zuwelah . .
417 Ba-nagaa 824
Baba ... 125 Bananas 49
Bablun, Der of 463 Bank of Egypt 264
Babylon, Fortress of 236- 4 > 5 .
Bankes, Mr. ... 136
461 Bantu ... 1 1 1
Babylonia 107, I 60, 200, 228 —
Baptism Coptic rite 284
Bacchias ... ... ... 590 Baqet ... 66, 596
Badawiyun, Bedawin (Desert Baqet III, Tomb of 597
Arabs) 70, 289 Bar (Baal) ... 125
Bad den Island Rapids ... 851 Bar Hebrceus 377
Badingan (Egg Plant) ... 51 Barabara (Berbers) ... 29'o, 781
Badr Al-Gamali ... ... 417 Baradaeus, Ja<:ob 283
Badr ad-Din, Glass vessel of 3 1 o Baraize, M. Emile 535
Badr, Battle of 325 Baramus, Monastery of 509
Badrashen ••• 583 Bargawan 243
Baggage Insurance, etc. ...13,16 Bardlet, M. ... 460
Baghdad ... ... ... 241 Barking Dervishes 356
Bagnold, Col. A 487 Barkuk 247
Bagrawir (Meroe), Pyramids Mosque ... 294, 300, 306",
of 470 308, 449, 450
Bahariyah (Bahriyah), Oasis Tomb ... ... ... 456
of ’48, 69, 511-2 Barkuk (in the Cemetery),
Baherah ... ... 69, 387 Mosque of... ... ... 300
Bahnassa ... ... ... 68 Barkuk, Sultan ... ... 446
Bahr al-Asfar ... ... 846 Barley '
50, 5 1, 52
Bahr al-Abyad (White Nile) Barracks, Ancient ... ... 179
79 843 ,
Barrages 33, 38, 88-95, 98-
Bahr al-Azrak (Blue Nile) ... 74, 105, 265, 267, 268, 357,
78-9, 81, 82, 839 469, 740
Barry, M. 593
Bahr al-Gebel ... 77, 848
Bahr al-Ghazal 46, 62, 77, 78, Barsanti, M. 714, 720, 739,
81, 264, 780 746, 764, 760
Bahr al-Zarafah ... 78,848 Bars-Bey 247
Bahr Yusuf ... 83, 586 Tomb ...
456
Bahrite Mamlftks 246, 455 Barshah 425
Bahriya Basalt 63
... 794
Tomb Basilianus 237
Bai, of 699
Baka ... 751 Basin Irrigation 47 82-3 .
Bas-reliefs
Bakenrenf (Bocchoris) [97 226 179
Baker Pasha defeated at Bast 69, 1 17, 1 25, 129, 412
T6kar 256 Bat 58
Baker, Sir Benjamin 94 103_ ,
Bath 3*6
Baker, Sir Samuel 76, 777. 846 Bathing 14
853. 854 Baths
Bakshish ... 5, 17-9, 27, 457 Abu Hamad 803
Bakt 776 Moses, Bath of 558
Balah, Lake 399, 402 Batn al-IJagar 79 789 ,
Baldwin, King of Jerusalem 244 Bauer, Monsignor 399

Balfour, Dr. A. ... ... 832 Ba-ur-Tet 214. 77 '
Ball, Dr. J. ... 51 1 521, 522 ,
Baz ... ... 318
5 31
896 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Bazaars of Cairo ... 4 6-9 Bet Khallaf ... ... ... 213
Beadnell, Mr. 511,512,
... Beybars II, Mosque of ... 300
5 3»
M 521, 522, 536 Bibah ... ... ... 591
Beans ... ... 50, 5 Biban al-Muluk (Valley of
Bebars ... ^ 45 the Tombs of the Kings) 684-
Bedawin, Badawiyun (Desert
Arabs) ... ... 70, 289
Bedstead of Iuau and Thuau, Codex Sinai ticus ... 564
Head of 703 Syriac Bible ... ... 510
Beer, E. F. F 574 Big Game Shooting in the
Beetle 60, 129, 153, 430- Sudan ... ... ... 61
Beetroot ... ... ... 52 Bigah, Island of (Senemet)... 735
Beggars ... ... ... 18 Bilbes, Battle at ... ... 244
Behbit al-Hagar, Behbit Bindings of Arab Manuscripts 312
al-Hajarah ... 230, 504 Biography ... ... ... 161
Behen (Wadi Halfah),
'
see Bir al-Ingliz ... ... ...860
Wadi Halfah. Bir Ambar ... ... ... 859
Behera Co. ... ... ... 92 Bir ash-Shunnar ... 568
Behnesa (Oxyrrhynchus) ... 59, Bir Nagaa ... ... ... 827
68, 591-2 Bh'ak (Natron Lakes) ... 46
Behutet (nome) 69 Birch, Dr 136, 542
Behutet or Edfu,
’
see Edfu. Bird Mountain (Gebel et-Ter) 592
Bek 599 Birds ... 58
Belal 801 Birket al-Kuriin(Lake Moeris)
Bellerini, Mr. ... ... 683 44 45 586, 589
, ,
Belzoni,M. 470, 475, 51 1, 690 Birth 346

Benedite,M. G. ... 546, 574 Birthday of the Prophet, Fes-
Benha 4 b 69, 389, 392 tival 339
Beni-Hasan ... ... ... 425 Birti 803
Tombs ... ... ... 594 Bisharin ... ... 38, 289
Beni-Hasan-al-Ashraf ... 593 Bissing, Dr. F. von... ... 481
Beni-Kureba, Massacre of ... 325 Bitter Lakes 47, 398, 399, 404
Beni-Suwef ... 41 , 69, 59 1 Biyamu 585, 587
Bennu ... ... ... 130 “Black Art” ... ... 160
Berber ... 257, 780, 804 Black Stone 324, 336
Berenice I ... 135, 200, 232 Black Tribes, see Negroes and
Berenice II ... ... 200, 232 Nubians.
Berenice III ... ... ... 203 Blackman, Mr. ... ... 744
Berenice (City) 232 Blaspheming (punishment)... 338
Berenice, Inscriptions of ... 136 Blemmyes 237,239,519,554,
Berenice Troglodytica 7 1 6-7 604, 738, 746, 747, 775
Beris 527 Blest, Islands of the... 48, 538
Berlin Museum, Monuments, Blignieres, M. de ... ... 252
etc., in ... 221,725,819, Blind Singers of the Call to
821, 822 Prayer ... ... ... 317
Berut ... ... ... 49
... Blue, Mr. John A. C. ... 100
Bes 125, 130 Blue Nile 74, 78-9, 81, 82, 839
Besh 184 Blue Nile, Province of ... 780
Bet al-Amanah ... ... 836 Blunted Pyramid ... ... 495
Bet al-Mal 836 Boarding School for Girls,
Bet al-Wali Temples ... 175, Luxor ... ... ...620
748 749 ,
Bocchoris (Bakenrenf) 197,226
, — —
INDEX. 897
PAGE PAGE
Bohr or Bor ... 77 849 ,
Brugsch, Dr. 136, 426, 500,
Boinet Bey ... 73 5<>4> 521, 537, 541, 546,
Bolbitine ... 385 . .
642. 734
Bond, Miralai E. E. 78 Brugsch, Emil, Pasha 426, 500,
Bonomi, Mr 545 748 , 664
Bontin 545 Bubastis 69, I 17, 125,225, 412
Book of Medicine ... 154 Buckle of Isis 114
Book of the Dead I 23, 134 * 53 , ,
Buffalo 57
158, 160, 163, 212, 213, Buffoons ... 319
214, 418, 671, 686, 687 ,
Buhen (and see Wadi Halfah) 768
Book of the Gates ... 686 Buildings, see Houses, Tem-
Book of the Praisings or ples, Tombs, etc.
Litanies of Ra ... 686 Buiuuaua 225
Book of what (or, him who) is Biilak
in the Underworld ... 686 Bridge ... 277
Bor Military Post ... 850 Island of (Gazirah) 460
Bor or Bohr ... 77 849 ,
Museum ...251,422-3,
Bora ... ... 853 424, 660
Borchardt, Dr. 481, 483 Normal School for
“ Bordein,” Wreck of ... 828 Women Teachers in
Borollos (Burlus) ... 39 Kuttabs 28
Botany ... 154 Printing Press .
25 G 460
Botti, Dr. 379 383 ,
Bulkeley-Ramleh 22
Bourdaloue, M. Bull, Capt. ... 274
... 397
Boussard, M. 135 386
Buller, Gen. ... 258
,
Bulli Island ... 844
Boutros Ghali, H. E. - 779 Bulls ... ... 129
Bramley Bey... ••• 273 Bulrushes ... 52
Bramly, Mr. Jennings ••• 544 Burckhardt 545 574 ,
Breccia 63 Burges, Capt F. 264

Bricks without straw 410 Burgite (Circassian) Mamliiks 247
Bridge Tolls, Abolition ... 272 Tombs ... 456
“ Brigandage, Commis:sions Burhamiyah Dervishes 355
of” 29 Burial Customs and Cere-
British Financial Policy in monies-
Egypt 357-64 Ancient Egypt .. . 108, 160,
Egypt
British Interference in 209, 604-5
249, 25 s Copts 288
British Museum, Monuments, Khargah, Oasis of ...524
etc., in 59, 135, 156, 2 J 2 Muhammadan ... 329, 349
213, 216, 218, 221, 222, Nubia 751
309, 386, 463, 476 486, ,
Burlus (Borollos) ... ... 39
500, 510, 609, 616, 671, Burlus, Lake ... 46, 59
682, 748, 820 Burning Bush, Chapel of ... 563
British Rule in Egypt 254-78 Burton ... 545
Progress under .. .
269,357 Busiris (Deospolis, Thebes) 1 15,
Brown, Maj. Sir H. 88, 90, 621-3

216, 587 Busiris (Pa-Asar, Abu-Sir)... 68
Browne, W: G 521 Bu-tchamui ... ... ... 68
Bruce 470, 840 Butler, Dr 273
“ Bruce’s Tomb ” ... 695,696 Butler, Mr. ... 240, 377, 378,
Brueys, Admiral 384 461, 463, 834
3 L
. 1 , — — 6
1
898 INDEX.
PAGE Cairo (contd.) — page

Buto (Pa - Uatchet, Per- Muski ... ... ... 458
Uatchet) 69, 129 Native Quarters ... 35
Buzzards 58 Plague of Locusts, 1904 270
Byzantine Architecture and Plague Outbreaks 247, 248
Art, Influence of ... ... 292 Population ... 289,418
Byzantine Period ... 238-4° Roads, Upkeep ... 265
Stone Gates ... ... 417
C. Tramways 3, 36, 268, 419,
Cabbages ... 52 459, 460, 466
Cadastral Survey of 1813 ... 57 T urkish Rule ... ... 417
Caesar ... ... ... 203 Walls 417
Caesar (Augustus) 203 -4, 234,615 Water Supply 35
Temple... ... ... 74 Windmill Hill 459
Caesareum, Church of ... 238 Zoological Gardens
Caesarion ... ... 234, 614 265, 440
Caesarion Library ... Calendar
... 377
Ancient Egypt 155
Cailliaud 508, 51 1, 512, 513,
531, 522, 539, 798, 813, Muhammadan ... ... 353
815, 817, 821, 823, 826 Ptolemy III, reforms of 232
Cairo (Al-Fustat, Kahirah) i, 2, 4, Caligula 204, 235
Callimachus ... ...
374
12, 13. 14 . 22, 34, 35. 39. ...
212, 222, 240, Calls to Prayer

70, 71,
Blind Singers ... 317
241, 242, 248, 41 4 98 ...
‘Abbasiyah Quarter 460 Lane’s, Mr., rendering

Al-Katai Suburb 241 351-3
Aqueduct 245 Cambyses 228, 506,
4, 198,
Avenues... 49 537. 621, 623, 773
Bazaars ... 456-9 Camel ... ... ... 57
Bridges ... 460 Campbell’s Tomb ... ... 481
British Occupation 418 Canaan ... ... ... 106
Burning of Fustat by Al- Canals, see their names.
ii akim 243 Candace 234, 738, 749, 774
Citadel ... 245, 417, 453-4 Nubian Revolt under ... 234
Climate . .
L 32, 34
. Canopic Gate ... ... 378
Coptic Churches 461-4 Canopic Jars... 437, 702, 703
Cost of Living 3 . . Canopus 385, 50
Foundation 240, 242, 344 Stele of ... ... ...232
Isma‘iliyah Quarter 458, 460 Canopus, Pilot of Menelaus 385
Joseph’s Well ... ... 454 Caracalla 236, 375
Khalig Canal ... 459,464 Carnarvon, Lord ... 682
Khedivial Library ... 439 Carob 49
Modern Quarters 4 5 9-60 Carrots 52
Mosques 293-300, 3 ° 34 ,
Carter, Mr. Bonham ... 784
440-53 Carter, Mr. Howard 061, 662,
Museum of Arab Art 3 1 1 682, 693,
438-9 Cartouches 135, 184
Museum of Egyptian An- Cartridges 13
tiquities 26, 181,182,214, Cash-on- Delivery System ... 1
218, 220, 221,223,225, 232, Cassel, Sir Ernest 280

“ Castle of the Candle95,
”
99,
277, 421, 46 o, 474 49 i, 496 , , 4i5
500, 64 1, 668, 688, 690, 692, Cat 58, 29
693 695, 713 7 M, 739
, , Catacombs 378, 379
—
INDEX. 8 99
PAGE PAGE
Cataracts — Christians and Christianity
Dal 790 (
contd.) ,
Kaibar (or Kagbar) ... 792 Damage to temple at

Semnah... ... ... 789 Luxor 626, 629-30
Cataracts, Great Cataracts ... 1,2, Introduction into Egypt 253,
42, 44, 79, 80, 124, 738
128, 733 - 4 770, ,
Nubia, introduction into 775
788, 790, 792, 801, Persecutions 236, 237, 243,
80 3, 804, 827 248, 282, 322, 375,
First I, 80, 124, 126, 127, 486, 519, 710
733-4 Settlement at Khargah,
Second 2, 79, 128, 770, 519— Cemetery 532-5
788, 790 Christ’s Thorn-tree ... ... 49
Third 79 792 ,
Cbromis Nilotica ... ... 59
Fourth 79, 801, 803 Church Missionary Society 420,
Fifth 79 804 , 785, 849-50
Sixth 79, 827 Cigarettes, Export of ... 56
“ Shooting the Cataract ” Cigars, Import duty ... 12
at Aswan 724
... ... Circassian or Burgite Mam-
Cat-Goddess ... ... ... 594 luks 247
Ca valla ... ... ... 250 Tombs ... ... 456
Cavan, Earl of ... ... 384 Circular Notes ... ... 3
Cave of Moses ... ... 567 Circumcision 282, 284, 347
Cave of Thaur ... ... 240 Citadel of Cairo 245, 4 1 7, 453-4
Cavern of Artemis ... ... 594 Civil List accepted by Khedive 3 63
Caviglia, M.... 470, 480, 486 Civil Time ... ... ... 12
Cecil, Lady William 730 Clarke, Dr. ...
... ... ... 430
Cells 508 Clarke, Mr. Somers 603, 71 1,
Cemeteries, see Necropolis. 712, 769, 770
Census of 1907 ... ... 279 Claudius Tiberius 204, 235, 529
Chabas ... 136, 697, 859 Clay Quarries ... ... 732
Chair of State from Tomb ... 704 Cledat, M. ... 410,725,731
Chalcedon, Council of 238, 502 Clement, Works of ... ... 510
Champollion ... 136, 672, 768 Cleomenes of Naucratis ... 374
Chariots from Tomb 688, 705 Cleopatra 36, 375, 395. 614
I
Charon ... ... ... 119 Cleopatra I ...

.
201, 233
Charrington, Lieut. H. ... 550 Cleopatra II . 201-2
Chenoboskion 58, 612 Cleopatra III 233
Cheops (Khufu) 35, •
57 546. ,
Cleopatra V .. ... .... 203
613, 641 Cleopatra VII 203, 233, 708
Pyramid 38, 213, 470, Cleopatra’s Needles ... ... 384
47 « -4 Clerk, Mr. J. ... ... 404
Chephren, see Kha-f-Ra. Clermont-Ganneau, M. ... 725
Chert, Tools of ... ... 683 Cleveland.Bridge & Engineer-
Chickens ... ... ... 59 ing Co 81828 1 ,
Choga, Lake 854 “ Clift in the Rock ”

567
...
“ Chonsu ” ... ... ... 24 Climate ... 14, 27, 35,33,
Christian Era ... ... 365 34, 292, 834
Christians and Christianity .. 71 Clot Bey 88
Arabs, influence on 323, 342 Clover 50
Arius and Athanasius, Clysma 404, 406
dispute between ... 237 Coal ... 62
3 L 2
— — 1
9 °° INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Codex Aureus 564 Copts ( contd.)
Codex Sinaiticus 564 Dress ... ... ... 282
Coelesyria, Revolt of 233 Education 284-5
Coffee 314 Fasts and Festivals ... 286
Coffin, Maj. Pine ... 274 Hierarchy ... ... 283
Coined Money 4 Jerusalem, Pilgrimage to 287
Colborne, Col. the Hon. J. 793 Judgment of Souls, be-
Collar 429 lief as to ... ... 288
Collinson, Col. 262 Marriage ... ... 287
Colonnade 171 Patriarchs ... ... 283
Luxor ... 629 Physique and Appear-
Colossi 486-7, 647 ance ... ... ... 282
“ Colossus on a Sledge ” ... 598 Prayers ... ... 285
Combined Tours 25 Religious doctrines 239, 282
Commodus Antoninus 207, 236 ,
Wealth ... ... ... 284
Confession ... 286 Writings ... ... 58
Connaught, H.R.H. Duke Coran, see Kur’an.
of ... 100, 702 Cornelius Gallus 234, 740, 741
Constantine the Great 237, 375 Corporal punishment abolition 29
Constantinople (Byzantium) Corvee, 84-6, 87, 89, 176, 265,
237, 375 267, 268, 270, 453
Constantius ... ... 238 Abolition 86, 358, 359
“Convent of the Pulley” ... 592 Cosmas Indicopleustes 547 , 573
Convents, see Monasteries Cost of Living Effect of—
and Convents. Western Civilization ... 321
Cook, late Mr. John M. Cotton and Cotton Seed 50, 51,
Death ... ... ... 263 65, 80, 90-1, 270, 275,
Gordon Relief Expedition, 276, 277, 278, 783
work for ... ... 263 Coupons ... ... 21,22
Luxof, development of 6 1 8-9 Courtyard
Luxor Hospital, founder of 263 Houses ... 178
Natives relations with 263 Temples ... ... 17
Reforms inaugurated ... 264 Coutelle ... ...
574
...
Services to Egyptian Cow 129

Government ... ... 263 Cow of Ilathor ... 667-8
Copper ... ... ... 62 Creation ... ... ... 116
Copper Mines 213, 546, 547* Crete 218
572-3 Crime 29, 267, 268, 270
Copper Money ... ... 4 Increase ... ... 265
Coptic Era ... ... ... 12 Punishment 29, 163, 337-8
Coptic Language ... ... 134 Statistics ... ... 29
Coptos (Kuft) 67, 107,215, Crocodile ... 59, 129, 613
615-6, 857 Mummy pits ... ... 600
Copts 71, 72, 281, 512 Crocodile-god ... ... 127
Baptism, Circumcision, etc. 284 Crocodilopolis (Arsinoe) 232, 586,
Burial Customs... ... 288 708
Character and Abilities 288-9 Cromer, Earl of 29, 51, 59, 63,
Church Services, etc. 285-6 87, 95, 98, 102, 265, 357,
Churches and Monas- 358, 363, 364, 423, 544,
teries 38, 461-4, 617, 603, 639, 714, 779, 847
739, 767, 768, 770, Resignation ... ... 275
793, 839-40 Crops... ... ... ... 50-I
— . 1
INDEX. 901
PAGE PAGE
Cross as Amulet 565 Dakhilah ... ... ... 262
Crowfoot, Mr. J. W, 226, 769, D&khlah, Oasis of ... 29, 48, 62,
788, 789, 791, 792/820 70 512 ,
Crows 58 Dakkah (Pselcis)... 749 ...

’
Crusaders 244, 245, 246, 504, Tem-ple 232, 750, 753, 754
A
505 Dal Cataract ... ... ... 790
Crypts Dalison, Mr. M. D ... 664
Denderah 615 Dam at Aswan, see Aswan
St. Catherine, Monastery Dam.
of ... 565 Damanhur 69. 387
Crystalline Rocks 42 Damascus 24
Cucumbers ... 51 Damietta 12, 70, 71, 80, 504-5
Cuneiform Tablets 599 Barrage ... 89-91
Cilreton 510 Dancing 3«6
Currellyj Mr. C. T. 546, 664 Dancing Dervishes 355
Currency Notes *7 Dancing Girls 318
Circulation 266, 268, 270, Danko Salim 844
272 Danko Shush 844
Currency of Dynastic Period _ 4 Daphnse (Defenna) 227, 402
Currie, Mr. James 832 Dar Fhr 776 . 777 . 780
Cursive Writing 1 34 Darabiikah . . 3*8
Curzon, Hon. R. ... 510, 592 Dar&w 38, 720
Cusae... 67* 600 Darazi 243
Cush (Ethiopia) 106, 283 Daressy, M. G. 427. 655
Customs 12, 64 Darics 4
Revenue 270, 272,
... Darius I, Hystaspes 4. 198, 229
275, 276, 277 Temple ... 516, 518, 519,
Sudan ... ... ... 782 529-32, 535-6
Cylinder Seal from Tell al- Darius II (Nothus) ... 229, 529
Maskhutah ... ... 4 IQ Darius III (Codomannus) 231, 395
Cynopolis ... ... ... 592 Darius Xerxes ... ... 199
Cyprus 222, 247 Dashna ... ... ... 612
Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria Date Palm and Dates 49-50,
238, 375 522, 537, 612
Tax 57.273,513.522
D. Daughter Library of Alex-
Dabasi ... 843 andria ... ... ... 377
Dabba Abu Teba ... ... 845 Davis, Mr. Theodore M. 219, ...
Dabba Ibrahim Sharak 845 220, 223, 599, 661, 679,

Dabbah 261,794 684, 687, 688, 701, 706
Dabbah Al-Zawiyah ... 845 Davison 470
Dabebat Shekh Ahmad ... 569 Dawson, Sir W. ... 581
Daberah ... ... ... 768 De Guignes ... 135
Dabiid (Parembole, Tahet)... 746 De Rouge ... 136
Dahabiyyah 2, 24 Dead-
Dahshtir*— Genii of... 437
Pyramids 213, 2 1 6, 470, Magic ... ... 159
488, 495-8 Prayers for ... 165
Tombs ... ... ... 182 Death 349
Daira Administration 267, 272 Debbeh (Dabbah) 261, 794
Dakakin ... ... ... 527 Debek 845
Dakhaliyah ... ... ... 69 Decius 208, 237, 375, 710
— . .
902 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Defenna (Daphnae, Tell Diodorus Siculus 106, 435, 474,
Dafannah)... ... 227,402 485, 486, 487, 507, 602,
Deinocrates ... ... ... 374 621, 646, 750, 817
Delta I, 31, 46, 47, 66, 116 Diorite ... 63
Demoniacal Possession, Belief in 159 Diospolis Magna (Thebes),
Demotic Writing ... ... 134 see Deospolis.
Demtemma ... ... 845 Diospolis ( Pa-Khen- en- Amen ) 69
Denderah ... ... 67, 424 Diospolis Parva (Ha) ... 67
Temple 613-5 Dirgham ... ... 244, 245
Dendur, Temple of 749, 750, 752 Dirham ... ... ... 6
Dennis, Mr. ... ... ... 664 Divination ... ... ... 337
Denon, M 470, 601 Divisions of Egypt ... 66-70, 2 10
Denshawai Incident... 274, 275 Divorce 27, 268, 237, 348
Deospolis or Diospolis Magna Dixon, Mr. ... ... ... 610
(Thebes) 620, 621-3 Dodecaschoenus ... ... 751
Der al-Abyad ... ... 602 Hog 58
Der al-Ahmar ... ... 602 Dog City 592
Der al-‘Arba‘in 568 Dog-headed Ape ... ... 129
Der al-Bahari 168, 424, 425, Dog-star ... 69, 127
...
660-1 Domains Administration 84, 265,

Subterranean Sanctuary 266, 267, 270, 272
668-90 Domestic Animals ... ... 57
Temple 2 85, 219, 655-7, Domitianus ... ... 206, 236
665, 667 Dongola (Donkola) 239, 739, 780
Tombs ... 682 Dosah Ceremony ... 339 354
Der al-Bakarah 592 Doshah 791
Der al-Hagar 513 Dourgnon, M. 423
Der al-Madinab ^277 Dozy ... 415
Der al-Madinat, Temple of 670 Dragoman 3 20 ,
Der Al-Nakhlah 598 Drah Abu’l-N ekkah . . 07 682,
Der Mawas ... 598 Drainage 267

Der Suryani ... 509 Drake, Capt. 820
Derby, Lord... 252 Draper, Mr. W. 409
Derr, Temple of Dress
757
Dervishes 50 , 61, Fellahin 281
255, 339,
353-6, 813 Travellers 13
Desert, Absorption of ... 40 Dromos 171
Desert Railway 786-7 Drovetti 513 52i
Determinatives 139 41 Drunkenness (punishment) ... 338
Devilliers, M. 655 Drury, Lieutenant . .
77
Dew ... 32 Drury-Lowe, General 4 418
Dhu Nu was ... 322 Druzes 243
Dhura 50 5 *,
Dryness of the Air .
3 33 ,
Dialogue between a man and Mean Relative Humid-

his soul 162 ity —
Tables 34
Diarrhoea 14 Duff Gordon, Lady 359
Didius Julianus 236 Dufferin, Lord 29
Dimah 590 Dufili ... 77 853,
Dimity, Origin of name ... 504 Diileb Hill 846

Dinder River 62, 842 Dulgo 222, 792
Diocletian 237, 375, 378, 616, Diim Palm 50
710, 775 Diimichen 36
. 4 1
INDEX. 903
PAGE PAGE
Dunes ... 46 Eclipse ... ... ... 58
Dupuis, Mr. ... 91 Edfu 67, 69, 81, 424, 425, 714
Dush al-Kala‘a ...528 Plain ... ... ... 43
Diishra (?) •••574 Temple 232, 233, 7 1 7*5 ,
Duwem 780, 843 Edku, Lake ... 46

Dwellings 57, I 78 9, 209, 21 1, Edmonstone, Sir A. ... 513,521
300-3 Edor Gamoia ... 845
Dynastic Period 212-30 Education 21, 28, 268-9, 270,
Medicine 153-4 273. 274, 275, 276, 277,
Religion 112 278, 284-5. 321, 347. 362-3
Dynasties 86-33, 212-30 Edward, Lake 76, 78
I 186, 212 Edwards, Miss 766
II 212 Egg Plant 51
III 186, 213 Eggs, Export of 268, 276
IV 186, 213 Egidius Lochiensis 509
V 187,214 “Egypt” ... ... 25
VI ... 187, 2 Egypt—
VII 2 Area 39 40 ,
VIII 2 Army 266, 363, 41

IX 2 Character of people 27
X 2 Classes of Lands 57
XI 2 Climate 1 4, 27, 3 I,
XII ... 187,2 33, 34, 292

XIII l88, 217 Coinage and Money ... 5 7 ,
XIV 217 Cultivation 73

XV 889,217 Debt 252, 264, 265, 266,
XVI ... 189,217 267, 270, 272, 275,
XVII 190, 218 276, 277, 363
XVIII [90, 219 Divisions of Land 66-70, 210
XIX 180, 92, 222 European Population ... 71
XX 194 223 ,
Financial Position 190, 264
XXI 224 Form ... ... ... 40
XXII 180, 195, 225 Geographical Position 39, I 10
XXIII 225 Geology... ... ... 40-1
XXIV 196, 226 Government Policy, etc. 34,73
XXV 197, 226 History, ."ketch of 209-78
XXVI 197, 227, 388 Irrigation ... 82-7
XXVII 198, 228 Land Tax ••• 57

XXVIII 198, 230 Limits ... 39
XXIX 230 Name ... 66
XXX 199.230 Natives ... 26
XXXII 199.231 Natural History 49
XXXIII 199.232 Occupations 7 G 72
Dysentery 14 Population 69-72
Routes to 23. 24
Rulers . . 184-278
Trade 64-5
Eagle 58 Women ... 27, 28
Earle, Gen., Death of 258, 803 Yield of Land 56
Eastern Desert ... 40, 62, 63 Egyptian Exploration Fund 388,
Ebers 541,547 412, 546, 597, 660
Ebers Papyrus ... ... 154 Egyptian Dredging Co. ... 92
904 index*
PAGE PAGE
Egyptians* Ancient 106-208 El-Kais (Cynopolisj..* ... 592
Anatomical knowledge 1 53, El-lahun (Allahun), Pyramids
433 of 470
Anthropological charac- Embabah—
teristics ... 107, I 10 Battle of ... ... 249
Architecture 563 Bridge ... ... ... 460
Arts 179-83 Embalming, see Mummies
Astronomy ... *55-6 and Mummifying.
Babylonian Element 1 07-8 Emerald Mines 63,7157
Botany ... ... ... 154 Emesa, Battle of ... ... 250
Burial Customs... 108, 604-5 Emin Pasha ... 850, 853, 854
Forced labour ... ... 1 75 Enchorial Writing ... ... 134
Handicrafts ... ... 163 Epiphanius ... ... ... 377
History... ... ... 163 Era of Martyrs ... ... 237
Houses ... 178-9, 209, 21 I Eras—
Language no, 133, 134 Jewish ... ... ... 12
Law and Justice ... 162 Meh, nome of ... ... 595
Learning ... ... 153 M u h a m madan and
Literature ... 1 60-2 Christian, Compara-
Magic ... 157-60, 209 tive Table ... 365-7 O'
Mathematics 156 Eratosthenes... 232, 374, 722
Mechanical contrivances 176 Erbkam ... 813
Medicine ... 153-4 Ergamenes (Arq-Amen)
Mummifying ... 1 2 1 , 159 232, 740, 750, 774
Music 161 Erment (Armant) ... 603, 708
Mythology ... ... 60 Esarhaddon ... 226, 486, 773
Negroid Element ... 109 Esbakiyah Gardens ... ... 460
Nile, Dependence on ... 74-6 Eshmunen or Hermopolis
Origin 806-10,437-8 Magna ... 55, 67, 598
Persistence of type ... I 10 Esna (Asna) 42, 43, 81, 708- 10
Prayers ... ... ... 1 53 Barrage 95~8, 357
Quarries ... ... 38 Temple ... ... ... 277
Religion 112-32, 288, 434, Ethiopia 106, 283
438 Eugenie, Empress ... ... 466
Religion, Indigenous EumenesII, King of Pergamus 375
Cults ... Ill Eunostos ... ... ... 376
Religious Festivals 171 Euripides, Works of ... 374
Sport ••• 58 European Languages ... 362
Writing 133-52 European Population 71, 290
Year ... ... 50 55 Eusebius ... ... ... 547
Egyptology, Modern, Science Euting, J ... 574
of 136 Eutyches of Constantinople 239
Eileithyiaspolis ... ... 67 Eutychians ... ... ... 282
Elagabalus ... ... ... 237 Eva, Gabriel... ... ... 509
Elephantine, Island and City Evangeliarium Theodosianum 564
37, 40, 67, 80, 214, 227, Evans, Sir A. J. ... ... 218
724 Evil Eye ... ... 338, 347
Elephants 774
58, Exodus ... ... 577-8i
Use in Battle 233 Pharaoh of ... ... 223
Elijah, Chapel of ... 406, 566 Expenditure ... 264, 266, 267,.
Elijah’s Cave ... ... 548 269, 272, 274-7, 361
Elim 405,551 Sudan ... ... ... 782:
— — — ..
INDEX. 905
PAGE Fellahin (contd.) PAGE

Exports 64-5, 265, 267, 268, Power of work * 77 , 809
270, 272, 274-8 Religion ... 111

Express Steamer 25 Female Musicians 170, 3*7
Ezbek, Mosque of 300 Fenwick, Capt. 261, 790
Ezekiel 412 Fergusson, Mr. ... 293
F #
Ferket, Battle of 261, 778, 790
Fabricius Pasha 831 Ferlini, Dr. 813,817, 819, 820
Faience 183 Feshn 591
Fairy Stories 162 F estivals
Fajao 854 Ancient Egyptians 171
Fakri Wad Atman 803 Copts 286
Fakiis... 69 Muhammadans . . 338-41
Falcons 58 Fetishes **3
Falja ... 346 Fever... 4 403,
Fals, Mr. 273 Mosquitoes as cause 5 M

False Pyramid 584 Fiction 162
Famine 2 1 3, 244, 246, 734 Field of Zoan 402
Fanaticism
“ Fields of Aaru” 119
... 291 ...
Fant 591 Fifth Cataract 79, 804

Fanti I I I
Figs ... ... 49
^
Farafrah, Oasis of ...48, 69, 5*2 Financial Crisis of 1907 275
Farag 247 Financial Policy 357-64
Tomb 456 Fingers 430
Faragalla 829 Firan, Oasis of 554
Faras, Island and District of First Cataract I, 80, 124 126,
39, 766-7 127. 7334
Fares ... 25 26 First Hijrah ... ... 324
Farm Buildings of Ancient Firth, Mr 744
Egypt 178 Fish 59 *29,
Farshut 612 Fishing Industry on Salt-

Fa-Shoda (Kodok) 262, 779, water Lakes 59
780, 845-6 Fitr 6
Fasting 335 F itzclarence, Lieut. . . ... 803
Ramadan ... ... 340 Fitzmaurice, Mr. M. ... 100
Fatihah '
347 35 * ,
Flax ... ... 52
Fatimid Khalifahs ... 242, 343 Flies 60
Fatma bint Bar‘i 390 Flight to Egypt, legends of 466
Fault Valley... ... ... 46 Flood Season 50
Faw Kibli ... ... ... 612 Flood Watchmen ... 85. 87,
Fayyum ... 44, 70, 586-90 275 276, 358 : ,
Fossil Serpent ... ... 60 Florence Museum ... ... 769

Neolithic Remains 585 Flower, Capt. Stanley 440
Pyramids ... ... 470 Flutes... 161, 318
Fa-Zbgli, Kings of ... ... 776 Fola
Febrifuge, Dr. Warburg’s ... 14 Falls ... 77
Feddan ... ... ... 6 Rapids ... ... 852
Felix, Maj 545, 574 Food of Fellahin ... 281
Fell, Lieut. ... ... ... 848 Forced Labour 84-6, 87, 89,265,
Fellahin 279-81 267, 268, 270, 358, 359.
Government Loans to 266,267 453
Physical Characteristics, Ancient Egypt ... ... 176
persistence ... 1 10-1 Ford, Mr. Onslow ... ... 834
— 11
9°6 INDEX.
PAGE
Foreign Banking and Ex-
change, Special Facilities 3 Q.
Forster, C. ... 574
Fort Berkeley 851 Gaalin Arabs 824
Fort St. Julien 135 Gadaref (Kadaref) Action at 840
Fortresses Gaius Petronius 234
Faras, Island of 767 Gakdul Wells 257 794 ,
Mirgissi... 770 Gakmak 248
Sarrah ... 768 Galabat (Kalabat) ... 262
Semnah and Kummah... 789 Galba 235 529 ,
Forty Days’ Road ... 532 Galerius Maximinus ... 461
Forty Martyrs, Monastery of 568 Gallery of Princesses 496
Forty-two Judges Gallienus ... 237
Fossils found in Shaluf Cutting 404 Gamai ... 788
Fountains, see Wells and Gambling 3«6, 337
Fountains. Game in the Sudan ... 6l-2
Four Hundred Years, Stele of 50 Gam us 844, 845
Fourth Cataract 79, 801, 803 Ganbalat ... 248
Fowler, Sir John 90, 806 Gannah ••• 527
Fox ... ... 58 Garazi 843
Frangi, Native view of 26, 27 Garden of Kafur, Palace ok.. 242
Franz Pasha ... ... 438 Gardens of Ancient Egypt ... 178
Fraser, Gen. ... 250
...
Garf Husen ... 749
Fraser, Mr. 216, 589, 593
...
Garlic ... ... 5 1 52
Frazer ... 574 Garnett-Orme, Mr. H. 664
French and Egyptian Money 9 Garrow, Mr. R. G. .. 92
French Rule in Egypt 249, 418 Garstang, Mr. J. 2 1 3, 597, 710,
Fresh Water Canal ... 252, 398, 750 813, 815

,
403 408, 41 , Garstin, Sir Wm.

76, 94, 98,
Friend, Col. ... ... 831 IOI, 102, 104, 270- 276,
F rog Amulet ... 430 426, 639, 714, 740 852, 856 ,
Frogs... 60 Gates,Book of the ... 686

..
Frontier Commission ap- Gateway of Hadrian at Philae 74 *

pointed ... 274 Gauges, Nile Gauges, see
Frontonius ... 509 Nilometers.
Frost 32 Gawhar ... 242, 416, 4 * 7 »
Frost, Mr ... 546 441, 776

Fruits 49 Gazelle ... ... ... 58
Fuel 55 Gazelle River, see Bahr al-Ghazal.
Fuller, Mr., C.I.E. .. 55 Gazirah (Island of Bulak) ... 460
Funeral Chamber 220, 381 Aquarium ... ... 44 °
Funeral Customs and Cere- Bridges ... ... .. 277
monies, see Burial. Gazirat al-Malik 788
Funeral Stelae ... 161 Gebel Abu Fedah ... ... 600
Funeral Vessels ... 183 Gebel Abu Ku‘ah ... ... 859
Funerary Chapels or Halls 1 66, 534 Gebel Ahmad ‘Agha ... 845
Fung tribes ... ... 776,806 Gebel Ahmar ... ... 43
Furniture ... ... ... 303 Gebel Auli ... ... ... 843
Fustat, see Cairo. Gebel I 18, 220,
Barkal (Napata)
Future State 112, I 18, 119-20, 225, 744, 750 772 773 , ,
209, 288 Pyramids and Temples 167,

Fuwera ... 854 175, 226, 470 796-9 ,
— 1 —6 6
INDEX. 907
PAGE
Gebel Barima 843 Gizah ( contd,.)
Gebel Dukhkhan ... ... 860 Pyramid Tombs 26, 165,213, .
Gebel Dush ... ... ... 791 417. 424 453 47 I ~9 , .
Gebel et-Ter... ... ... 592 Tramway Service from

Gebel Gaddir ... ... 344 Cairo ... ... 419
Gebel Gari ... ... ... 827 Gizah Province 13
Gebel Kurdu ... ... ... 85 Glass Coin Standards ... 310
Gebel Mandara 843 Glass Lamps 439
Gebel Sahabah ... 39, 7 66 Glass-making 309
Gebel Silsilah, see Silsilah. Glazed Porcelain Tiles 311
Gebel Surkab ... 828, 837 Gleichen, Count ... 805
Gebel Zabarah Emerald Mines 63 Goat ... 57
Gebel Zet (Oil Mountain) ... 63 Tax, Abolition ... 73
Gebelen 43, 44, 112,215, 708, Gods and Goddesses 13
844 Aasith ... ... 716
Gebt, see Kuft.
Abode of the ... ... 11
Geese ... ... ... 58
Gehenna Aker ... 129
... ... ... 330
Gele ... 828 Amemit... 119
Gemmueya District ... ... 843 Amen I 17, 124, 129, 161,
Gentlemen’s Dress ... ... 13 l 68I, 219 220 229
, I 7 , , ,
Genii of the Dead ... ... 437 230 467 506 685 , , ,
Geographical Mile ... ... I I Amen-Ra 49 67 68 69 , , , ,
Geology 11 , 1 17 , 1 18 , 124 ,
Egypt 40-1 129 226 621, , , 686

Oases 521 Ammon ... ... ... 40
Sinai 543 Amset (Akeset) 124 129 ,
George of Cappadocia 238, 375 Amsu or Menu 67 124 129 , , ,
Germanicus ... 234
Gessi Pasha
603
... ... 778 An-Her 67 68
Geta ... 208 ,
Ghaba Shambi An-Heru ... ... 1 24

... 848
Gharbiyah 69, 389 Ani 124 716 ,
Ghawazi (Dancing Girls) ... 318 Anit 124 , 129

Ghbbesha ... 843 Anpu 124 , 130
Ghoriyah, Mosque and Tomb of 300 Anqet 124 , 130
Gibeah 554 Antat (Anaitis)... 124 , 130
Giegler Pasha 256
Anubis 67 115 119 124
Giffen, Mr. and Mrs. 846 , , , ,
Gildemeister ... 548 129 130 , , 538

Gill, Capt. W. J.
Apis Bull 124 129 130
.. 550 212 229 236 485 492
, , ,
Ginnis 259, 790 Apt

, , , ,
124
Gipsies 319
Giraffe River 78, 848 Ap-uat ... 67 , 124 , 129
Girga (This) ... 70, 604 Asar (Osiris) ... 124 , 130
Girga Canal ... 83 Asar-Hep (Serapis the
Girls, Education of .. 28 Apis Bull) ... 124 , 130
Girouard, Sir P. 786, 788 Ast (Isis) ... 125,130
Gizah ...58, 69, 583
Dyke Astes ... ... ... 125
245
Museum in Palace of ... 423, Atem or Temu, see Temu.
425, 687 Atemu 125 , 130
. . — 11
90 8 INDEX.
PAGE
Gods and Goddesses (contd.)- Gods and Goddesses ( contd )
Aten 8, 221 Maat ... 126, 131, 163
Atmu or Tem 4, 115 Meh-urt... ... ... 126
Baba 125 Menhet ... ... 126, 13
Bar (Baal) 125 Menthu... ... ... 708
Bast 69, I 17, 125, Mentu ... ... ... 126
129 412 Mentu-Ra 13
Bennu . . 130 Menu ... ... ... 616
Bes 25, 130 Mersekert ... ... 126
Canopus 385 Mert 13
Diishra (?) 574 Meskhenet ... ... 126
Foreign Gods 118 Mnevis ... ... ... 129
Hapi 125* 130 Mut 16, 126, 129, 131
1
Hapi (Hep) the Nile God 125, Neb-er-tcher ... ... 126
130 213 Nebt-het ... 126, 13
Hapi (the Apis Bull) ... 125 Nefer-Tem ... ... I 15
Hathor ... 67, 68, 125, Nefer-Temu ... 126, 13

*29, 130, 486, 572, Neheb-ka ... ... 1 27
585, 613, 720, 741 Nekhebit, Nekhebet 67, 126,

Hat-mehit ... ... 129 129, 131, 379, 710-1
Heru Behulet ... 67 Nephthys ... ... Il6
Heru (Horus) ... 125, 130 Net (Neith) 68, 1 17, 126,
Heru-khenti-an-maati *3*, 388
125
Nu 127
Heru-Khenti-Khati 68 Nut I l6, 127, 131
Heru-khuti 125 Nut-Hekau ... ... 1 32
Heru-netch-tef-f *25, 742 Osiris (Asar) 38, 68, 69,
Heru-p-khart 125, 130 114, 115, 116, 117, 11S,
.
Heru-shefi *25 119, 121, 124, 129,

Heru-shefit 68 158, 159. 160. 212,
Heru-ur ... 68 125 , 605, 686, 737, 758
Het-Heru (Hathor) 125, 130 Pakhet *27, 594
Horus ... 58, 67, 68, * 6 ,
Ptah 68, I 15, 127, 13 I
1 17, 1 18, 124, 58, Ptah-Seker ... 127, 13
185, 602 Ptah-Seker-Asar ... 127
Horus-Ra 467 Ptah-Tatenen ... ... 1 27
Hu 68, 125 Qebh-Sennuf ... 127, 13

I-em-hetep 126, 7*4,740 Ra 1 16, 1 17, 1 18, I 19,
Isis 38, 68, 16, 7 n , 120, 1 21 , 127, 129, 158*
118, 125, 129, 30, 158, 214, 685, 758
*59, 378, 657, 741-2 Ra-Heru-khuti (Ra-
Iusaaset... 125
... ... Harmachis) *27, *3*
Keb ... I 16, 126, 130 Renenet. *27, *3*
Ketesh ... ... ... 130 Rennut *27
Khensu or Khonsu I 16, 126, Reshpu *27, 1 3*> *32
*3* Sa *27
Khensu-nefer-hetep ... 126 Satet *27, 132
Khepera... 60, 115, 1 16, Sebek 68 115, 128, 129,
,
126, 129, 131, 431 132, 590, 708

Khnemu 67, 68, 126, 129, Seker *27, 129, 132, 487
*3*, 213 Sekhet 1 15, 128, 132
List of *24-9 Sept 69, 127

1 — — 1
INDEX. 9°9
‘ PAGE PAGE
Gods and Goddesses (contd .
)
Goshen 408, 411
Serapis ... 118, 508, 737 Gougi Rapids... ... 851
Serqet or Selqet 128, 1 29, Gourds 51
132 Government Hospitals ... 265
Seshetat (Sefekh-Abiu) 128, Government Schools 21, 362-3
132 G6z (Koz) Abu Gumah 829, 844
Set 57, 68, 1 16, 1 17, 128, Graham, Gen. 257 259, 410 ,
132, 218, 602 Grand, M., Bey ... 625

Shai 128 Granger 509
Shu or Tefnut 1 15, 116, 128, Granite Quarries 63 732 792
, , ,
432 860
Sutekh ... ... ...128 Grant, Capt. ... ... ... 76
Tanen 128 Grant, Mr. G. B. Macpherson 80
Ta-Tenen 128 Grapes ... ... ... 49
Ta-urt 128, 132 Graves
Tefnet 128 Muhammadan ... ... 3 50
Tehuti 128, 132 Pre-dynastic period ... I 12
Tem I 14, 1 15 see also Pyramids and

Temu 68, 1 16, 128, 129, Tombs.
418, 467 Great Equatorial Lakes 76, 854-6
Jet 1 3 132 > Great Festival ... ... 341
Tetun 128 Great Hall of Columns ... 476
Thoth 67, 69, 1 1 9, 129, Great Harbour of Alexandria 376
158 163, 598
,
Great Oasis, see Khargah.
Tuamutef ... 128, 1 32 Great Pyramid 35, 38, 213, 470,
Uatchet (Uatchit) 69, 1 29, 471-4
132, 379 Great Temple of Kom
Un-nefer ... ... 129 Ombos ... ... 718-20
Urt-hekau ... 1 29 ... Grebaut, M. ... ... 425, 625
Goff, Mrs 693 Greek Magical Papyri ... 160
Gold 62, 772, 773 Greek Mercenaries, etc. ... 227
Gold Mines 62,216,731,752, Greek Merchants of Alex-
859 andria ... ... ... *290
Gold Rings, use as Money ... 4 Greek Orthodox Convent,
Gold Tomb 679-80 Old Cairo 271
Golden Calf ... ... ... 572 Greek Period ... 231-4
Hill of ... 568 Greeks ... ... 228, 288
Golenischeff ... ... ... 716 Green, Mr. ... ,.. ... 791
Gondokoro ... ... 850 Grenfell, Dr. ... ... 590
Gordon, General 256, 345, 778, Grenfell, F.-M. Lord 259, 260,
806, 818, 829, 835 423, 592, 725, 730, 758
Memorial Service at Grey 574
Khartum ... 262-779 Gubat ... ... ... 258
Murder 258, 345, 778, 831 Gudayadat al-Halah ... 413
Statue in Khartum 834, 835 Gwynne’s centrifugal pumps 97
Gordon Memorial College at
Khartum ... ... 831-4 H.
Gordon Relief Expedition, Ha (Diospolis Parva) ... 67
1884 257, 258, 778, 794 Habbah ... ... ... 803
Transport of ... ... 263 Habib 509
Gorst, Sir Eldon 29, 56, 275, Habits, Change in, effect on
319 cost of living 321
1
910 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Hadad, King of Axum ... 239 Hathor ...67, 68, 125, 129,
Hadanduwa Tribe ... ... 289 130, 572, 585, 613
Hades, Worship of ... ... 374 Chapel at Kom Ombos 720
Hadrian ... ... 206, 236 Cow of ... ... 667-8
Gateway of ... ... 741 Temples ... 486,741
Hafir... ... ... ... 261 Hathor - Sat, Princess,
Hafsah ... ... 325, 327 Jewellery of ... ... 496
Hagar (or Gebel) Silsilah 44, 717 Hatim ... ... ... 416
Haggi Kandil [and see Tell al- Hat-mehit ... ... ... 1 29
‘Amarna) ...
599
... ... Hatmehit (nome) ... ... 69
Haker (Akhoris) 230
... ... Hatshepset (Iiatshepsu, Hat-
Halfah [and see Wadi Halfah) 780 shepset - khnem - Amen),
Halfayah 828 '

... Queen 168, 19 1, 219, 546,
Halimar ... ... ... 323 594, 633, 657-60
Hall, Mr. H. R. 168, 610, 664 Temple 655-7, 682, 769
Hall of Columns 632, 637, 654 Tomb 661-4, 687
Hall of Maat... ... ... 119 Hau (Diospolis Parva) ... 67
Hall of Science ... ... 243 Hawamdiyah ... 583
...
Hallat An-Nuweror AliabDok 848 Hawarah ... ... 216

...
Ham ... ... ... ... 106 Pyramids ... 470, 588
Hambal ... ... ... 341 Hawk 58, 129
Hambalites ... ... ... 341 Hawk-God ... ... ... 503
Hamilton ... ... ... 470 Hawkins, Mr. H. V. ... 801
Hamitic Descent, Tribes of 78 j Hay, Mr. ... ... ... 748
Hainl... ... ... ... 347 Head, Wrightson and Co.,
Hammamat, Well of (and see Messrs. 96
Wadi Halfah) 860 Headache ... ... ... 15
Hanafites 341 Health and Medicine ... 14
Handicrafts of Ancient Egypt 1 <>3 Health Resorts ... 31-34
Hanek 843 Hearst Egyptian Expedition 604
Hanes 68 Heart 1 53, 430
Hapi 125 130 Hebennu, Hebenu ... 67, 593

Hapi (Hep) the Nile God ... 125* Hebrews, see Israelites.
130 213 Hebt 520
Hapi Apis Bull)
(the 125 Hecataeus ... ... ... 642
Harar, Annexation of ... 778 Helale 777
Hare ... 58, 129 Helena, Empress 509, 592, 602,
Harim 302, 348 617
Harp ... ... 1 6 Plelena’s Tower ... ... 562
Elarper, Song of ... 160 Heliopolis 23, II 6,
17, 18,
1 1
Harper, Tomb of ... 695, 696 212, 125, 216, 227,

Harpokrates 125 466-9, 483
Harris, Mr. 717 Obelisks and Temples 216,
Hasan 343 467-9
Mosque .
447, 448 Helwan 14, 23, 36, 494
...
Hasan Pasha. 778 Observatory ... 12, 36

Hasenen, Mosque of 339 Henna 281, 385
Hashin, Action at .. 259 Henniker ••• 574
Hashish 315 337 Hennu 216, 859
Confiscation 270 Henoticon 239
Hassan Effendi Zaki 838 Hep (Hapi) Nile-god 125, 130,
Hassaniyah Island .. 844 213
— 1 1
INDEX. 9 1
PAGE
Heptanomis ... ... ... 66 Het-ka-Ptah ... ... 66
Heptastadium ... ... 37 6 Hetsfent (Asphynis)... ... 708
Ileqab, Tomb of ... 727, 729 Het-Suten 67
Heq-at 68 Het-ta-her-abt ... 392
Heraclius ... 239, 325, 376 Het-ta-her-abt Athribis 68, 392
Herakleanus ... ... ... 503 Ilet-Uart or Avaris ... 217, 218,
Herakleopolis 117, 125, 215 219, 590
Herakleopolis Magna 68, 59 I Hezekiah, King of Judah 226
...
IJer-f Ha-f (Charon) ... 119 Hibis, Temple at ... 529
...
Her-Heru ... ... ... 224 Hicks, Col. W. Pasha 256, 345
Her-Khuf ... 214,743,771 Hierakonpolis 67, 231, 713
Tomb 727-8, 729 Hierasycaminus 754
Hermonthis ... 67, 126, 708 Hieratic Writing 134
Hermopolis Magna or Esh- Hieroglyphics 133-52
m unen ... ... 55 , 67, 59 $ Hijrah 324
Hermopolis Minor (Pa- Era of ... 239 , 353 365 ,
Tehuti) ... ... ... 69 Hincks 136

Hermopolis Parva (Temai- Hippodrome of Alexandria 318
en-Heru) 387 Hippopotamus •••58, 62, 129
Herodotus 4, 40, 80, 216, 388, Hippopotamus-goddess ... 128
395, 412, 434, 435, 437, Hisham ... ... ... 241
472, 474, 475. 479, 484, History
487, 492, 506, 537, 587, Ancient Egypt ... I 6 , 2 I I
589, 603, 642, 733, 751 Arabs ... ... 322-3

Heron 58, 374 Egypt 209-78
Heru (Au-ab-Ra) ...
Heru-Behutet
... 497
67
Hobbs, Maj — ... ... 264
.. ... Hodgson, Mr. C. G. ... 801
Heru-em-heb 221, 626, 627 i
Hogarth, Mr. D. G. 383, 590, 660
Temple ... ... ... 718 Holland, Mr. ... 546, 555
Tomb ... ... ... 678 Holled-Smith, Col. Sir C. 260
Heru (Horus) ... 125, 130 Holscher & Steindorff,
Herui ... ... ... 67 Messrs. 475
Heru-khenti-an-maati ... 125 Holy Land, sea Palestine.
Heru-Khenti-Khati ... ... 68 Homer ... 66
Heru-khuti ... ... ... 125 Homeritse of Arabia... ••• 237
Heru-nest-taui ... ... 189 Homophones... 139
Heru-netch-tef-f ... ... 125 Honroth ••• 725
Temple ... ... ... 742 Hooker, Dr. ... ... 420
Heru-p-khart ... 125, 130 Hophra (Uah-ab Ra), see
Heru sa-Ast ... ... ... 642 Uah-ab-Ra.
Heru-sa-atef, Annals of ... 773 Horapollo 431
Heru-shefi (Heru-shefit) 68, 125 Horeb ... 548, 550
Herutataf ... ... ... 126 Horse... 57
Heru-ur ... ... 68, 125 Horus... 58, 67, 68, n6, 117,
Herz Bey 439, 603 1 18, 124, 158, 185, 602,
Hesbet (?) Ka-IIebset (?) (Ka- Horus-Ra 467

basos) ... ... ... 68 Hoskins, Mr. 521, 792, 797,
Hesepti or Semti ... ... 212 798, 824, 826,
Hesepti or Ten ... 610, 61 1 Hospitals

Hesi al-Khattatin ... ... 553 American Mission 391
Heterodox Sects ... 341-2 Luxor ... 619
Het-Heru (Hathor) ... 125, 130 Hotel Coupons 22
— . 1 —
912 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Hotels 22 Ibn Kalaun, Mosque of 453
Houses Ibn Tulun ... 464
Ancient Egypt 178-9 209, Mosque of 305, 309, 444»
21 I 445
Modem Egypt . 300-3 Ibrahim 249
Tax on ... 57 Ibrahim (Khalifah) ... 241
“ Houses of Eternity 122 Ibrahim Pasha 859
Howard, Hon. H. G L. 836 Ibrahim Shekh 818
Howling Dervishes 356 Ibrahim, son of Muhammad
Hu 68 125, the Prophet 325
Hufrat an-Nahas 777 Ibrahim, son of Muhammad
Hui ‘Ali ... 250,251
Stele ... ... 764 Ibrahimiyah ... 851
Tomb 679, 682 Ibrahimiyah Canal 83, 86, 92,
Hull, Prof. ... 541 94
Hiilugu ... 246 Ibrim... - 757
Human Sacrifices 483, 737 Ibrimi dates ... 50
Humidity, Tables of 34 Ichneumon ... 58, 129
Huni ... ... 186 Ideographs 138
Hunt, Mr. ... 590, 592 I-em-hetep (Imouthes) 126, 7M
Hunter, Gen. Sir A 261, 803, Temple ... 740
805, 824 Ignatius, Epistles of 550
“ Hunter’s Castle ” (Cheno- Ikhshid 242
boskion) ... 58, 6.2 Illahun (Al-lahun), Pyramid
Hunters, Pyramid of ... 491 at ... 216, 470, 589
Huntingdon 509 Imam (preacher) ... ... 334
Hur al-hiyun 330 Imam Shafei... ... ... 340
Husen 338, 339. 343 Tomb ... ... ... 456
Mosque 44i Imamians or ShPites 342, 343
Hydreuma 859 Immortality, Belief in, see
Hyena 58 Future State.
“ Hyksos
24 Imports 64-5, 265, 267, 268,
Hyksos or Shepherd Kings 2 1 7, 270, 272, 274-8
219, 486, 577, 682, 710, Inaros ... ... ... 229
743, 745 Indian Hemp ... ... 315
Expulsion 219, 577, 682 Inscriptions
Hymns to the Gods ... ... 160 Men-kau-Ra, Pyramid of 478
Amen-Ra ... ... 425 Nabatean (Sinaitic) 548, 553,
Mer-en-Ptah, <£
Hymn 573 6
of Triumph 222
” of ... •Nilometer 464
Ra 144-52, 530 Obelisk at Heliopolis .. 468
Hypatia, Murder of... 238, 375 Southern brick pyramid
Hyponomos ... ... ... 374 of Dahshur 497
Hypostyle Hall of Temple... 17 Tombs and Temple: 181-2
Hypselis (Shas-hetep) ... 67 Insects 60
Inundation ..50, 82, 155
“ Irabiyun ” 289
Irby, Mr. 598
Ibex ... 58 Iron ... 62
Ibis •“ s8, 129, 598 Irrigation 32, 33, 40, 52-4,
Iblis or Azazel 329 73. 82 7, 216, 235, 265,
Ibn Juber 44 1 267, 268, 275, 357
— 1 —
INDEX. 9T3
PAGE PAGE
Irrigation (
contd .
)
Ja‘far As-Sadik 3 11
Basin ... 47,59,82-3 Jahiliyah 323
Circles ... 84 Jebel al-Munayah ... 556
Corvee for ... 84-6 Jebel as-Safsafa (Ras as-Saf-
Perennial Irrigation 84, 85,95 saf) 557
Pump scheme ... ... 90 Jebel Hammam Fir‘aun 551
Iseion ... ... ... 708 Jebel Hammam Musa 558
Iseium ... ... ... 615 Jebel Harun ... 557
Isidore ... ... ... 236 Jebel Katarina 568
Isis38, 68, 1 1 6, 1 1 7, 1 1 8, 1 25, Jebel Musa 541 547 550 ,
129, 130, 158, 159 657 , 557 566

Temple... ...378,741-2 Jebel Nakus ... 558-9
Iskandar Pasha ... ... 305 Jebel Safsafa . .. 567-8
Islam... ... ... ... 328 Jebel Serbal 541, 547, 548, 550
Islands of the Blest ... 48, 538 Jebel Zabir ... 568
Ismaelites ... ... ... 343 Jebel Zebir-Katharina ... 543
Isma‘il (Mamluk) ... ... 249 Jebeliyah ... ... ... 565
Isma‘il Pasha, Khedive 83, 86, Jequier, M. ... ... ... 6lO
90, 102, 251, 253, 376, Jeremiah ... ... ... 228
419, 423. 438, 439. 460, Jeroboam ... ... ... 637
466 Jerusalem 225, 235, 244, 287
Deposition 253 ... ... Jethro, Well of ... 557*566
Finance 252. 363. 364 Jethro’s Road ... ... 568
Isma‘il Pasha (son of Muham- Jewellery, Ancient 182,
496, 498,
mad ‘All) 250, 776-7, 823 617, 671, 679, 817, 819
Isma‘iliyah 12, 34, 70, 71, Jewish Era ... ... ... 12
403 407 , Jews 71,233,238,
Isma‘iliyah Quarter of Cairo 248, 290, 325, 374, 462
458, 460 Jinn ... ... ... 328
...
Israelites, Bondage in Egypt 409 Johar 343

A periu, identification John of Brienne ... ... 504
with Hebrews ...860 John the Dwarf ... ... 509
Bricks without straw ...410 John the Grammarian ... 377
Exodus 577-8l Jokka River ... ... 853
Passage of the Red Sea Jollois, M 655
404-6, 426 Jomard ... ... ... 470
Pharaoh of the Exodus 223 Jones, Mr. Wood ... ... 744
Rameses II, oppression Jordan ... 512, 521, 522
by 222, 578 Joseph, son of Dioscur us ... 739
Treasure Cities, building Joseph the Patriarch ... 488,
of 578 579, 587
Ita, Princess, Jewellery of ... 498 Joseph’s Well ... ... 454
Italians, Defeat at Adowa ... 261 Josiah, King of Judah ... 227
Itinerary ... 236
... ... —
Judaism Influence on Mu-
Iuaa 220, 221, 599, 705 hammadans ... 323, 342
Tomb 700-6 Judd, Prof. ... ... ... 41
Iusaaset .. ... ... 125 Judges ... ... ... 162
Ivory-inlay work ... ... 309 Judgment of Souls, Belief in
J. Ancient Egyptians
Jackal 58, 129 120, 686
Jackson, Col. FI. W., Pasha 80 Copts 288
Jacobites ... ... ... 283 Muhammadans... 3^9
M
2 ..
9*4 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Jugglers 318 Kaltela, Pyramid of... ... 823
Julian the Apostate ... 238, 375 Kalyub 45,392
Julius Caesar ... 234, 374, 377 Kalyubiyah . . ... 69
Jupiter Ammon (Siwah), Kamangah . .
317
Oasis of ... 48,506-8,511 Ka-meri-Ra ... 215
Jur River 77 Karnes 183, 190, 218, 682
Justice, Administration of 29 Spear-head 183
Cost 362 Kamlin 840
Reforms... 358
29, Karnt ... 66
Sudan ... 784 Kanisah ... 814,849
Justinian 239 544 547 . . . Kaniye 851
560, 565, 738 Kansuh 248
—
Juvenal Banishment ... 236 Kansuh al-Ghuri 248
Juwerya ... ... ... 325 Kantar 6
Kan tar ah 12
K&niin ... 317
Ivanz, tribe of 776
Ka-qem 68
Kaqemna 161
Ka ... 1 1 , 122 Tomb ... 494
Ka‘abah 324 325, 335
,
Karafah Cemetery 340
Kabdah 6 lyara-kush 245 453 454
, ,
Kabushiyah 813 Karanis 590

Kadaref, Action at (Gadaref) 262, Karanog 758
840 Karbala, Battle of ... 388, 441
Kadesh, Battle of ... ... 222 Karbaniti 226
Kadiriyah Dervishes ... 355 Karemah 800
Kafr ad-Dawar 387, 4 M Karkhemish, Battle of ... 228
Kafr Ammar
‘ ••• 583 Karkog 842
Kafr Az-zayyat ... ... 388 Karman 793
Kafur ... ... ... 242 Karnak, Temples, etc., at 37,
Kafur, Garden of ... ... 242 67, 82, 168, 219, 222,
Kagera River 76, 78, 82, 856 424, 425, 621, 631-43
Ka-heseb ... ... ... 68 Avenue connecting tem-
Kahira, see Cairo. ples of Luxor and
‘Kahwah (Coffee) ... 314
... Karnak ... ... 631
Kaibar Cataract ... 792
... Foundations and bases,
Ka’it Bey 248, 308 weakness of 639
Tomb — Mosque of
295, 299, Hall of Columns 632, 637
300, 306, 308, 450 Restora'ion 277. 639
Kaka... ... ... ... 845 Karpeto River 851
Kakau ... ... 212, 485 Karr, Mr. Secon ... 683
Kalabat (Galabat) ... ... 262 Kartassi 43. 746
Kalabshah (Talmis) 42, 43, 747 Karuma Falls ... 854
Kalakla ... ... ... 843 Kas (cymbals) ... 318
Kalaun ... ... ... 445 Kasa ... ... 67
Mosque... 294, 300, 307 Kasabah 6
Tomb 445, 446 Kasalah 777 780 .
Kallabat ... ... ... 841 Kasasin ... 410

Kallabiyah Canal Regulator 98 Ka-semt ... 68
Kallimma-Sin (Kadashman Ka-Set-Ra ... 189
Bel), King of Babylonia ... 220 Kashta 196, 225
. 11 1
INDEX. 915
PAGE PAGE
Kasr al-Banat .. 859 Khartum 14, 23, 78, 81, 2 1 7,
Kasr ash-Shema ... ... 415 264, 779, 780, 829 38
Kasr as-Sayyad (Cheno- Bridge 784, 828
boskion) ... 612
... ... Climate ... ... 834
Kasr az-Zayan ... ... 527 Foundation ... ... 777
Kasr Gaitah, Temple of 526, 527 Gordon Memorial Col-
Kasr Karun, Temple of ... 590 lege 831-4
Katena ... ... ... 843 Mahdi, Siege and Cap-
Kau al-Ivabir (Antaeopolis) 60 ture by 258, 345, 829,
Kautsky, Dr. ... ... 273 831
Kawwah ... 844 Mosque ... 834... ...
Keb 11 6, 126, 130 Museum 226, 788, 79 1,

Kebti... ... ... ... 67 818, 820, 821, 834
Kefiyyeh ... ... ... 13 Palace of the Sirdar ... 831
Kena " 42, 70, 612, 857 Population ... ... 829
Dancing Girls 318 Re-taken by British ... 831
Kena Kuser Road ... 857-9 Statue of Gen. Gordon 834*
Kenrith, Queen, Pyramid of 822 835
Kerbela (Karbala), Battle of Zoological Gardens ... 834
338, 441 Khartum Relief Expedition 257,
Kermah ... ... ...792 258, 263, 778, 794
Kerreri 828, 837 Kharu ... ... ... 637
Kesem (Phakussa) 69 Khasut (Xois) ... ... 68
Kesi ... 67 Khat 1 2
Ketesh 130 Khata‘anah, Mounds near ... 500
Khabbesha . . 229 Khati... ,
... ... ... 596
Khadijah 324 Tomb 597, 601
Kha-em-hat, Tomb of 678, 680 Khati I ... ... ... 215
Kha-f-Ra-ankh, Tomb of ... 480 Khati II 215
Kha-f-Ra (Chephren, Kheph- Khatib (preacher) ... ... 335
ren), King 181, 186, 213, Khedive (1906) 273
474, 480 Khedivial Library ... 31 1, 439
Pyramid ... 474-6 Khemenu ... ... ... 67
Khaibit 1 2 Khennu-sesu, Tomb of ... 729
Khalifah (Sayyid ‘Abd- Khensu-nefer-hetep . . . ... 126
259, 260, 346
Allahi) Temple ... 230
Defeat and Death 262-3, Khensu or Khonsu ... I 1 6, 126,
779 1 31
House at Omdurman ... 835 Temple ... ... ... 632
Khalifahs, Tombs of 456 Khent, Tomb of ... ... 61 I
Khalig Canal ... 459, 464 Khent-abt ... ... 68, 500
Khamasin or Khamsin Wind 32, Khepera 60, 115, 116, 126,
514 129, 131, 431
Khamend Baraka ... 31 • Soul 430
Khammurabi, Code of 426 Khephren, see Kha-f-Ra.
Khandak 793 Kher-aha ... ... ... 418
Kharagi 57 Kheta... 16 1, 222, 645, 652,
Khargah Junction ... 515, 612 761-4
Khargah, Oasis of 48, 70, 229, Kheyr Bek 248
5 1 4 7> 523, 525 Khian 189, 218
Mosque... ... ... 525 Khnemit, Princess, Jewellery
Khargah Oasis Railway ... 277 of ... 498
3 M 2
11 — 1 O
gi6 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Khnemu 67, 68, 126, 1 29, Kings and Queens of Egypt
131,213 (
contd .
)
Khnemu-ab-Ra ... ... 860 Amen-em-hat III 88 1 88 , ,
Khnemu-hetep I, Tomb of... 596 216, 586, 789

Khnemu-hetep II, Tomb of 595-6 Amen-em-hat IV 1 88 2 17 ,
Khnemu-hetep III, Tomb of 596 Amen-meri-en Heru-em-

Khnemu-khenu, Tomb of ... 730 heb 192
Khor Duleb ... 845 Amen-meses 193, 223 693
Khu 1 2 I, 122
Amenophis I 190,219, 718,
Khu-asut, Pyramid of ... 667 720
Khubasa. ... ... ... 242 Amenophis II ... 19 220 ,
Khu-en-Aten, see Amenophis IV
625, 633, 637, 643,
Khumaraweyh ... ... 24 791, 824
Khumaruyah ... ... 416 Amenophis III... 1 74, 19 1,
Khunes, Tomb of ... ... 729 220, 236, 625, 629, 630,
Khurru River ... ... 851
633. 647. 688, 690, 71 1,
Khurshid Pasha ... ... 777
Khushkadam 743 772 789 791
, , ,
... 247, 248 Amenophis IV ... II 8, 1 80,
Khusrau (Chosroes), King of
192, 221, 599, 600, 625,
Persia ... 376 642, 657, 707
Khu-taui-Ra ... ... 217,640 Amen-rut or Amyrtaeus 23
Khuua, Tomb of ... ...729
Kiblah
An 187
... ... ... 33 Anab
Kigmas, Mosque of... ... 300 ... ... ... 217
Kilkipa ... ... ... 220 Anastasius ... ... 239
Kings and Queens of Egypt Antef 216, 218
184-208 Antefa ... ... ... 215
Aah-hetep, Queen 182, 1 90, Antef-aa 215,21 6,218, 641
218 Antoninus (Caracalla) ... 208
Aahmes, Queen ... 219 Antoninus Pius... 207, 236,
Aah-mes-sa-pa-ari 190, 219 527, 532, 648
Aa-pehti-Set ... ... 50 Antuf ... ... ... 160
Aa-qenen-Ra ... ... 190 Apepal... ... 189,218
Ab-aa 2 57 Apepa II 218
Aha 212, 617 Arcadius ... ... 238
Ai ... 22 1 600, 69O , Arq-Amen (Ergamenes) 232,
Alexander the Great ... 199, 740 750 774
, ,
230, 231, 373, 374, Arses 231

506, 630 Arsinoe ... 136, 200
Alexander II 231,564, 635 Arsinoe I ... 232
Alexander IV ... ... 199 Arsinoe II 232
Arsinoe III 201, 232
Amasis ... ... ... 388 Artaxerxes I 198, 229
Amasis I (Aahmes) ... 190, Artaxerxes II ... 229
219, 712 Artaxerxes III 229, 231
Amasis II 184,198,228,
Assa 87, 771, 859
503
Amen-em-apt ... 224, 680 Atchab or Merbapen ... 610
Amen-em-hat I... 187,216, Atet 186
583, 755 Atf-neter Ai neter heq
Amen-em-hat II 188, 216 Uast ... 192
— —
INDEX. 917
PAGE PAGE
Kings and Queens of Egypt Kings and Queens of Egypt
{could. )
{could .
)
Augustus 203-4, 23 4, 615, Geta ... ... ... 208

701 Hadrian 206, 236
Aurelian ... ... 237 Haker (Akhoris) ... 230
Aurelius Antoninus ... 207 Hatshepset I 68, I 91, 219,
Bakenrenf (Bocchoris)... 197, 546, 594, 633, 655-64,
226 682, 687, 769
Berenice I 135, 200, 232 Heraclius I 239, 325, 376
Berenice II ... 200, 232 Her-Heru ... ... 224
Berenice III ... ... 203 Heru-em-heb 221, 626,
Besh ... ... ... 184 627, 678, 718
Caesar ... ... ... 203 Ileru-nest-taui ... 189
Caesar (Augustus) 203-4, Heru-sa-Ast ... ... 642
234, 615, 741 Hesepti or Semti 2 12
...
Caligul > 204, 235 Hesepti or Ten 610, 6 1 I

Cambyses 4, 198, 228, 506, Huni ... ... ... 186
537, 621, 623, 773 Julian the Apostate 238, 375
Caracalla 208, 236, 375 Justinian 239, 544, 547,
Cheops (Khufu) 35,157, 560, 565, 738
470, 471-4. 546, 613, Kakau ... ... 2 12, 485
641 Ka-meri-Ra ... ... 215
Claudius Tiberius 204, 235, Kames ... 183, 190, 318,
529 682
Cleopatra 136, 375, 395, Ka-Set-Ra ... ... 189
614 Kashta 196, 225
Cleopatra I ... 201,233 Kha-f-Ra (Chephren,
Cleopatra II ... 201-2 Khephren) 18 1, 186,213,
Cleopatra III ... ... 233 474, 480
Cleopatra V ... ... 203 Khati I 215
Cleopatra VII ... 203, 233, Khatill 215
708 Khian ... ... 1 89, 218
Commodus Antoninus... 207, Khu-en-Aten, see Amen-

236 ophis IV.
Constantine the Great 237, Khu-taui-Ra ... 2 17, 640
375 Lucius Aelius Verus ... 207
Constantius ... ... 238 Macrinus ... ... 237
Darius Hystaspes 198, 229, Marcianus ... 238
516, 518, 5 <9, 529-32, Marcus Aurelius ... 236
535-6 Marcus Julius Philip ... 208
Darius II (Nothus) 229, 529 Masaherth ... ... 224
Darius III (Codomannus) Mehti-em-sa-f ... 187
23G 395 Mena (Menes) 185, 186,
Darius Xerxes ... ... 1 99 209, 212, 484-5
Decius 208, 237, 375, 710 Menephthah I (Mer-en-
Didius Jnlianus... ... 236 Ptah) 193, 222, 223,
Diocletian 237, 375, 378, 426, 486, 577, 579,
616, 710, 775 688, 693, 694
Dotnitianus ... 206, 236 Menephthah II ... 193
Elaâbalus ... ... 237 Mcn-kau- I I eru ... ... 546
Galba 235, 529 Mcn-kau-Ra (Mycerinus) 186,
Gallienus ... ... 237 213, 476-9
. 0 — ,
9 i8 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
(contd . )
— (contd .
)
Men-kheper-Ra ... 224 Pasebkhanut II ... 224

Menthu(or Mentu)-hetep 215, Pepi I 187, 214, 546, 713,
216, 640, 641 732, 743
Menthu-hetep Neb-hept- Pepi II 187, 214, 546, 728,
Ra 168, 644-6, 656, 667 743
Mer-en-Ra 2 1 4, 490, 727 Per-ab-sen ... ... 186
Mer hetep Ra Sebek-
- - Pertinax ... ... 236
hetep VIII ... ... 640 Pescennius Niger ... 236
Mer-sekhem-Ra Nefer- Peshamut (Psammuthis) 23O
hetep III ... ... 640 Peta-sa-Bast ... ... 225
Merul (Mandulis) ... 747 Philip Arrhidaeus . . 231
Mut-nefert ... ... 219 Philotera ... 200 ...
Naif-aaiu-rut I (Nepher- Piankhi 197,225,418,467,

ites) ...
'
230 486, 743, 773, 798

Naif-aaiu-rut II (Nepher- Probus ... ... ... 237
ites) ... 230 Psammetichus ... 388, 642
Names and titles 184, 208, Psammetichus I ... 197
468 Psammetichus II 228 198,
Nar-mer ... ... 713 Psammetichus III 198, 228
Nastasen ... 228, 773 Psemthek I ... ... 227
Necho II (Nekau) 197, 227, Ptolemy I (Soter I) 1 99, 23 I
229, 395 232, 233, 374, 684
Nectanebus I (Nekht Ptolemy II 161,200,231,
Heru-hebt Nektanebes) 199, 232, 374 395 503 , , ,
230, 7M 504. 536, 716, 774.

Nectanebus II (Nekta- 857. 858
nebos, Nekht-neb-f) I 86, Ptolemy III (Euergetes I)
199 230, 489,503, 504
, , 155, 200, 231, 232, 374,
529, 648, 737, 740 385, 536, 774
Nefer-hetep 217, 596, 677, Ptolemy IV (Philopator)
200,
678 231, 232, 670, 740, 774
Nefer neferu-aten Nefeiti- Ptolemy V (Epiphanes) 135,
it, Queen ... ... 192 136, 201, 233, 385, 740
Nero 204-5 Ptolemy VI (Eupator) 201,
Nerva 206, 236 233
Nes-ba-neb-Tettet ... 224 Ptolemy VII (Philo-
Neter-baiu Perabsen 61 metor 201, 233, 670,
I)
Nub-Set (?) ... 189 741

Nubti ... 218 Ptolemy VIII (Philo-
Osorkon I 185, 195, 225 pator II) ... 202, 233
Osorkon II 196, 225 Ptolemy IX (Euergetes
Otho ... 205,235 II) 202, 233, 632, 648,
Paiankh . . ... 224 650, 670, 7 1 1, 718, 741
Painetchem ... 224 Ptolemy X (Soter II,
Painetchem ... 224 Philometor II) 202, 233,
Painetchem III ... 224 648, 711
Pa-mai ... 196, 225 Ptolemy XI (called Alex-
P-ankhi (and see P khi) 197 ander) ... 202, 233
Pasebkhanu 501 Ptolemy XII (Alexan-
Pasebkhanut I ... ... 224 der II) ... 203, 233
— 1 — 1
INDEX. 919
PAGE PAGE
(contd .
)
{contd. )
Ptolemy XIII 203, 233, 648 Senekht-en-Ra... ... 2 19
Ptolemy XIV ... 203, 233 Sent 212, 433
Ptolemy XV ... ... 234 Seqenen-Ra I... ... 218
Ptolemy XVI ... ... 234 Seqenen-Ra II ... 218
Qa or Qebh ... ... 610 Seqenen-Ra III ... 218
Ra-en-user ... ... 214 Seti I 193, 222, 626, 632,
Rameses I 192, 222, 632 637» 643, 686, 716
Rameses II 161, 173 . 193 , Seti II 161, 193, 223,
222, 384, 395 408, , 486, 632, 680
501, 577 578 - 9 , , 608, Set-Nekht 185, 193, 223
609, 626, 628, 629, 631, Severus... ... 208,236
632, 637 642, , 643, Shabaka (Sabaco) 197,226,
645 761-4
, 628, 648
Rameses III 25, 162, 194, Shashanq (Shishak) I 88, 1 95,
224, 632, 648, 651-5 225, 501, 632, 637
Rameses IV 194, 224, 859 Shashanq II ... 196, 225
Rameses V ... 194,224 Shashanq III 196, 225, 501
Rameses VI ... 194,224 Shashanq IV ... 196, 225
Rameses VII ... 194,224 Silko 775, 794
Rameses VIII ... 194,224 Smerkha 546, 6 IO
Rameses IX 195, 224, 632 Tahrq, Taharqa (Tirhakah)
Rameses X ... 195,224 197, 226, 641, 642, 648
Rameses XI 195, 224 744 773
Rameses XII 195, 224, 632 Takeleth (Tekeleth) II 196,
Ra-nub ... ... 487 225
Ra-sekhem-ka ... 217 Tanut-Amen 227, 773
Ra-sekhem (?) - khu-taui Tau-aa ... 190
Sebek-hetep I ... 1 88 Tau-aa-aa ... 190
Sa-Amen 224, 486 Tau-aa-qen 190
Sabina ... 206, 236 Ta-usert 680 ...
Sahu-Ra 187, 2 14, 546, 64 Tcheser 186, 213 487, , 546

Sa-Ptah... 223, 680 Tefaba ... 215
Seaa-ka-nekht-khep eru- Tekeleth 195 196, ,
225
Ra ... 192 Teta ...185, 214, 425, 485
Se-ankh-ka-Ra ... 640, 859 Tetka-Ra 546
Sebek-em-sa-f ... ... 217 Theodosius I the Great 238
Sebek-em-sa-f I 189, 640 Theodosius II ... ... 238
Sebek-em-sa-f II ... 189 Thi or Ti 191,220-1,
Sebek-em-sau-f ... 217 599, 683, 706, 707
Sebek-hetep 217 Thothmes I 191,219,632,
Sebek-hetep II ... 188 636
Sebek-hetep III ... 188 Thothmes II 191,219,648,
Sebek-hetep IV 189 657 659, 768-9
,
Sebek-hetep V ... ... 189 Thothmes III ... 16 1, 19 ',

Sebek-neferu-Ra 188, 217 219 309, 384, 546, 572,
,
Semen-Ptah (or Smer- 594, 63 1 634, 636, 641-2,

,
khat) ... 546, 610 657, 659, 686, 708, 718,

Semti •53, '86 743 789,
Seneferu (Sneferu) 186, 213, Thothmes IV ... 191,220,

546, 584, 743 77 ,
' 479 7 ,
1
— 1
920 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Kings and Queens of Egypt Kom Tomb
ash-Shukafah,
‘
(contd.) at ... 379-83

Tiberius Caesar 204,234, 740 Kom Ombo 43, 81, 425
Titus Caesar 205, 235, 236 Kom Ombos (Per-sebek) 718-20
Trajan ... 206, 236 Kordofan 777, 780
Tui 1 93 Korosko (?) 216, 755
Tut-ankh-Amen 221 640, Korti, see Kurta.
642 Koshah ‘
259, 790
Tut ankh Amen heq-
- - Koz (Goz) Abu Gumah 829, 844
Annu-Resu (?) ... 192 Krateros ... ... ... 374
Uah-ab-Ra (Apries ... 198, Kubalab ... ... ... 828
228, 486 Kubban (Tachompso) ... 75
Uah-ankh Antef ... 682 Kubbas ... ... ... 524
Uasarkena 225 Kubbat Idris... ... ... 79
Unas 187, 214, 425 Kubbat Salim ... ... 79
User-en-Ra 481 Kubosh ... ... ... 81
Usertsen I 48, 187, 216, Kuft (Qebt, Coptos) 67, 107,
583, 743, 768 315, 615-6, 857
Usertsen II 188, 216, 467, Kuio 851
757 Kullah ( Iyulal )
made at Ken& 6 1 2-3
Usertsen III 188, 216, 495, Kullah, Pyramids of... 470
...
743 772, 788, 789 Kulusna ... ... 592

...
Usr-ka-f... 187 Kummah ... ... 21 6, 789

Valerianus 237, 375 Kur’an 313,326-8,
Vespasianus 205,235 332 336 347
, ,
Vitellius 205, 235 Compilation .. 326, 328

Xerxes the Great 229 198, Illuminated copies ... 31 I
Zeno 235 Number of Sections,

Zenobia ... 237 Verses and Letters ... 327
Kings, Valley of Tombs of 684- Revelation ... ... 327
Version of opening
707
Kiosk at Philae 742 chapter 351
Kipkipi ... 227 Kurban Bairam ... ... 341
Kirbekan, Battle of 258, 803 Kurbash, use of Abolition — 29
Kircher, Athanasius 574 Ivurkur, Oasis of •••' 538
Kiri - 851 Kurnah ... ... 680, 682
Kiro ... 850 Temple 643
Kirrat 6 Kurnat Murrai ... 671,682
Kirshah, Temple of 749 75 ,
i Kurru 47 <>, 795
Kiswah 340-1 Kurta (Korti) ... ... 794
Kit River ... 851 Temple ... ... ... 754
Kitchener, Gen. F. W. ... 262 Kurun, Lake... ... 44 45 ,
Kitchener, Lord 260, 261, 262, Kuruskuw (Korosko) 2 1 6, 755

423, 831, 832 Kiis, Apollinopolis Parva ... 617
Kite 58 Kusae 67
Kleber, General 246, 560 Kuser (Kosseir) 12, 107, 857, 860
Kochome ... 487 Kushtamnah, Cemetery ... 751
Kodok (Fa-Shoda) 262, 779, Kusun, Mosque of 294
780, 845-6 Kuttabs 28, 275
Kohl, use of ... ... 280 Kwania, Lake ... 854
K6m al-Ahmar 713 Kweh River ... ... 851
Kom al-Gizah ... 81 Kynonpolis ... 67
—— — 1 1
INDEX. 92I
PAGE
L. Laws of Ancient Egypt ... 162
Le Pere, M 396
Laborde 541, 545, 547, 574 Lead ... ... 62
Labori " ... ... ... 851 Learning of A ncient Egyptians I 53
Labyrinth 216, 588-9 Lebbek Trees ... 49, 403

Ladder 508 Leeks 51, 52
Ladies’ Dress ... ... 13 Lefebure, M. 593, 612
...
Lado ... ... 77, 81, 784, 850 Legge, Mr 6 1 0, 6 1

Lado Mountain ... ... 850 Legrain, M. 277, 621, 639-43
Lagin... ... ... ... 444 Lelat al-Kadr 340
I-agogolo River ... ... 851 Lemons ... ... ... 49
Lagoons of the Delta 46, 59 Length of Visit ... ... I
“ Lake of the Horns ” 44, 45 Lenormant ... 574
Lakes Lentils ... ... 50
Great Equatorial Lakes 76, Leo Africanus ... 600, 603
854-6 Leopard 58, 555
Subterranean Drainage 45 Lepsius 80, 136, 408, 470,
Temple precincts ... 17 541, 542, 546, 547. 573.
See also names of lakes. 587. 594. 655, 662, 697,
Laketah 859 774 793 8«2,
, . 813, 817,
Lakki 851 821, 822, 823, 826, 859,
Land 860
Distribution ... ... 266 Lesseps, M. de 251, 255, 397,
Measurement ... 156 399
Policy of Egyptian Lesser Festival ... ... 340
Government ... ... 73 Letopolis (Sekhem)... ... 68
Tax 73, 273, 360, 782, 783 Letorsec ...
. 511,819
Land of the Spirits ... ... 771 Letters of Credit ... ... 3
Land Sales Registration ... 273 Letters of Egyptian Alphabet
Lane, Mr. 27, 286, 287, 333, 137-8
338 339 348, 351 355
, . . . Lettuces ... ... ... 52
441. 456 464, 466 , Leungtom Al-Wat ... ... 845
Lane-Poole, Mr. 243, 295, 303, Levantines ... ... ... 290
415. 444 Levy 574
Language Lewd Entertainments, taste
Arabic ... ... ... 2 for 319
Egyptian ... 133, 134 Lewin, Capt... ... ... 820
English, increased use... 21 Lewis, Col. ... ... 262, 842
Sudan ... ... ... 782 Lewis, Prof. Hayter ... 500
Larks ... 58 Libya... ... ... 222
Lascelles, Mr. ... ... 253 Libyan Desert 31, 60, 62, 63
Lat 323 Lice ... ... ... ... 60
Latakia 56 Light used by Workmen in
Latitude and Longitude ... 10 Tombs ... ... ... 683
Latopolis (Sent) ... ... 708 Limestone ... ... 43, 44, 63
Latreille, M 430 Linant de Bellefonds Bey 88-9,
Latus... ... ... ... 59 90, 397 545 ,
Lauth ... 859 Linen... ... ... 52, 182

Laval ... 574 Linnets ... ... 58
Laval, Lottin de ... 541, 546 Lion ... 58, 129
Lavallay, M. ... ... 399 Lion Temple ... ... 815
Lawrence, Dr, 391 Lions, Valley of the ... 755
6
922 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Lisht, Pyramid at 21 6, 470, Lyons, Capt. 32, 78, 1 05, 465,
583 511 , 513 521 740 742
, , , ,
Literature 160-2 744 769, 839, 856

,
Little (Bahariyab) Oasis ... 48 Lynx 58

5 1 1-2 Lysimachus of Thrace ... 232
Little (Daklah) Oasis 29, 48, Lythgoe, Mr. 535
62, 70
Li wan 443 M.
Lizards ••• 59
Lloyd, Col. ... ... 261 Ma‘abdah ... 600
Lloyd, Mr. E. H. ... ... 98 Ma‘add 243
Loat, Mr. W. S. ... ... 59 Maat 126, 132, 163
Locke-King, Mr. ... 35 Macarius the Egyptian ... 508
Locusts 60, 270 Monastery ... 509
Londinian formation 44 Macauley, Col. G. B. 807, 808
Longs word, William ... 505 MacCallan, Dr. ... 280
Lord ... ... 546 McCallum, Mr. ... 766
Loret, M. Victor 219, 426, 684, McClure, Mr. IL ... 98
687, 690, 693 Macdonald, Gen. ... 838
“ L’Orient” ... 384 ... Macdonald, Maj. - 553
Lotus ... 52 Macdonald, Mr. M.... 92
Louis IX 246, 504, 505 Maclver, Mr. 756, 758,
Louis Philippe 454 766, 768, 769, 770
Louvre 216, 271 McLaughlin, Dr. and Mrs. 846
Love Songs ... 160 McNeill, Gen ... 259
Lower Parisian Strata ... 44 Macrinus ... 237
Liibiya ... ... ... 50 Madamut, Temple of ... 643
Lucas, Mr. ... ... 105, 806 Madinah, Siege of ... ••• 325
Lucerne ... ... ... 50 Madinat al-Fayyum ... 70 7 b ,
Lucius Aelius Verus ... 207 585, 586

Lucius Domitius Domitianus 237 Madinat Habu ... 424
Lucky and Unlucky Days ... I 55 Temples 37, 647-55
Luggage- Maecianus ... 236
Examination of . . . ... 13 Magdal ... ... 405
Insurance ... . . 1 Maggad ... ... ... 840
Lul 846 Maghaghah — Sugar manu-
Lung wi Mountain ... ... 851 factory 591
Lupus ... ... ... 499 Magianism ... 323
Luxor 1,14, 22 23, 32, 36, ,
Magic 157 209, 337
... ,
67, 81, 618-20 Figures ... ... 158

Christians, Damage bv 626, Words and Ceremonies 158
'629-30 Maharik ... 516
Development by Mr. J. Mahatah 734
M. Cook ... 618-9 Mahdi, attributes, etc., of 342-3
Hotel 37 Mahdi, False Mahdi ... 250
Mosque ... ... 619-20 Mahdi (Muhammad Ahmad,
Temple 37, 425, 619, 624, the Mahdi) 50, 255, 256,
625-31 343-6, 778 841, 843 ,
Luynes, Due de ... ... 424 Birthplace 793

Lydians ... ... ... 4 Character 346
Lykopolis, Saut or Asyut, see Death 259, 346
Asyut, Dominions 346
—— . • 1 — — 1
INDEX. 923
PAGE PAGE
Mahdi (Muhammad Ahmad, Maps [contd.)
Mahdi) ( contd
the .
) — Khargah, Oasis of 514
Gordon, admiration for 345 Khartum and Omdurman 830
House on Aba Island ... 844 Nile-Red Sea Railway 808
Personal Appearance ... 346 Nile—Wadi Halfah to
Tomb, Destruction, etc. 262, Great Lakes ... 790
836, 837 Sinai, Peninsula of 540
Mahdi’s Place ... 844 Sudan Railways ... 802
Mahetch 67 Thebes... 672, 673
Mahmil 339 Wadi Hammamat and
Mahmud ... 262 Kuser route to Emer-
Mahmud, Dervish General... 81 I, aid Mines ... 855
824 Mar Girgis ... 463
Mahmud Sami 254 Mar Mina, Church of ... 461
Mahmudiyah Canal . . ... 376 Marabiyah ... 844
Mahon, Col. ... 263 Marah 405. 55 «
Mahsamah ... 408 Marawi 780, 795
Mai, Tomb of 677, 678 Marble 63
Maize... 50 51 ,
Marchand, Major 262, 846
Makanat 516 Marcianus ... 238
Makawkas ... 3 92 Marcius Turbo ... 236
Makedo Rapids ... 851 Marcus Aurelius ... 236
Makrizi •
554 • Marcus Julius Philip ... 208
Maks ... ... 528 Marea ... 227
Malaria 403, 522 Mareotis (Maryut), Lake 46, 63,
Malawi ... 598 387
Malek 34 i Marg Dabak. ••• 45 '
Mafekites 341 Mariette, F. Auguste Ferdin-
Mamluks and 168, 216, 217, 237, 422,
Bahrite and Burgite 423-4, 436, 470, 480,
Dynasties 246-8
... 487, 488, 491, 492,
Derivation of name ... 246 501, 502, 606, 607,
Massacre of ... 454
.. 609 631 655 660
, , , ,
Mammisi ... 615 718 720 , ,

664 684, 714 ,
Manat ... ... ... 323 House ... ... ... 494
Manbali, Church of ... ... 839 Maristan 246
Mandulis (Merul) 747 Marriage Customs and Cere-
Manetho 161 212 217 232
, , , ,
monies
476 488 490, 591
, ,
Copts ... ... ... 287
Manfalut ... ... ... 600 Khargah, Oasis of ... 524
Mangles, Mr. ... ... 598 Muhammadan ... 268, 347
“Manna” 543, 54$ Martial ... ... ... 485
Manslaughter (punishment) 337 Marwan I ... ... ... 240
Mansurah ... 69 7 I, 389 505
, ,
Marwan II .. ... ... 24
Manuel ... ... ... 240 Maryam ... ... 274, 325
Manure ... ... ... 54-6 Maryht (Mareotis), Lake 46, 63,
Manuscripts ... ... ... 3 I 387
Manzalah, Lake (Menzalah) 46 ,
Masaherth ... ... 224
273, 399, 402 Masai Moran 61
Maps M a ‘sarah Quarries 495. 498
Assouan, Environs of ... 723 Masawa ... 782
Great Equatorial Lakes 855 Mashra ad-Dakesh ... 803
—
924 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Mashrah Shaggara ... ... 844 Meh-urt ... 126
...
Mashrat A 1 Hellah ... ... 844 Mekhu and Sabna, Tomb of 726,
Mashrat Ar-Renk ... ... 844 728
Mashrat ar-Rum 845 Meks 383
Mashuasha ... ... ... 22 7 Melik As-Saleh ... ... 455
Maspero, Prof. 104, 106, 216, 239, 283
’
Melkites
424-5, 426, 427, 488, 489, Melons ... ... 49, 51, 52
491, 535, 537, 584, 604, Melukhiyeh (Spinach) ... 52
619, 625, 639, 643, 658, Melut ... 845
664, 684, 687, 690, 70s, Memnon, see Amenophis III.
707, 718, 745, 746, 766 Memnon, Colossus of 235, 236,
Masran Island ... 844 647
Massalamiyah ... 840 Memnonium 607, 623, 645-7
Maetabahs ... 164, 213 Memphis (Men-Nefert) 66, 68,
f
Mastabat al-Fir aun 424, 488, 1 15, 1 17> >26, 127, 128,
494 212, 213, 214, 226, 228,
Mas‘udi ...242 230, 436, 484-6
Matammah ... 702, 824 Memunah ... ... ... 325
Mataniyah ... ••• 583 Mena House... ... ... 35
Matar 734 Mena (Menes) 185, 186,209,
Matariiyyah, Battle of 249 212, 484 5
Matariyah ... 466 Menat ... ... ... 430
Maten ... 68 Menat-Khufu ... 594~7
Mathematical Papyrus 156 Mendes (Al-Mandid) 69,230,502
Mathematics... 156 Menephthah I (Mer-en-Ptah)
Matthews, Maj. G. E. 77 193, 222, 223, 486
Maximinus ... 565 Mummy 426, 688, 693
Maxwell, Sir J. Grenfell ... 766 Pharaoh of the Exodus 577,
Maya, Signora ... 848 579
Mayan ash-Shunnar ... 568 Tomb 693, 694
Mazhar Bey ... ... 89 Menephthah II 193
Mazhar Pasha ••• 777 Menhet 126, 132
Maz‘unah ••• 583 Men-kau-Heru ... ... 546
Mecca 33 i Men-kau-Ra Mycerinus) 1 86, 213
(
Caravan ... 338 341 ,

Pyramid ... 47^-9
Pilgrimage to 335-6, 338, Menkheper-Ra ... ... 224
277, 278 Menna, Tomb of ... 679, 680
Mechanical Contrivances 176 Menou, General ... 249
Medical Department, State Ment-her-khepesh-f, Tomb
677, 699
*
Grant 363 of
Medicine, Pocket case 15 Menthu or Mentu-hetep
... 215,
Medicines of Ancient Egypt 1 53-4 216, 595, 640, 641
Medinet (Madinat) Habu, Menthu-hetep Neb-hep-Ra 656
Temple of... 37 Temple ... 168, 664-6, 667
Mediterranean Race ... 108 Menthu-nesu... ... ... 495
Medutn, Pyramids and Tombs Menthu-Tehuti-auf-ankh ... 66 3
213, 424, 583-4 Mentiu 553
Megiddo, Battle of ... ... 227 Mentu ... ... ... 126
Meh (Antinoe) nome of Mentu-her-khepesh-f, Tomb
Tombs of Governors 594-7 of 677, 699
Meht-en-usekht ... 225, 651 Mentu-Ra ... ... ... 13 1
Meliti em-sa-f 187 Menu.., ... ... 616

— 1
! INDEX. 925
PAGE PAGE
Menuf ... ... ... 389 Mining Industries ... ...63
Menuf Hospital ... ... 280 Minutoli 508
...
Menufiyah ... ... 69, 91-2 Minyi ... 69, 245, 592
Menzalah, Lake, see Manzalah. Mirgissi, Fortress of 770
Mer-en-Ptah, see Menephthah. Missions 847
Mer-en-Ra ... 214, 727 for particular Missions,
Pyramid... 490 see their names.
Mereruka 494 Mithkal 6
Merimes ... 716 Mit-Rahinah... 484
Meri-Ptah, Tomb of ... 680 MitrYazid 4*3
Meri-Ra, Tomb of ... ... 600 Mixed Marriages 289
Merit, Lady, Jewellery of ... 496 Mizraim 66 106 ,
Merwan 327 Mnevis ... 129

Meroe, Island of 167, 811-3 Mnevis Bull ... 212, 467
Priests ... ... 750 Modern Egyptians 3*3-2i
Princes ... ••• 774 Modern Quarters of Cairo 459-60
Pyramids 470, 815-23 Moeris, Lake 44, 216, 586-7^
Queens (Can ’ace) 774-5 589 789 ,
Mersekert ... 126 Mommsen 70

Mert ... 13 * Monasteaes and Convents
Merul (Mandulis) ... ... 747 Abu Honnes ... ... 597
Meskhenet ... ... 126 Anba Bisha'i ... ... 509
Mesopotamia 26. 241, 245 ,
Baramus ... ... 509
Messiah 342 Coptic ... ... ... 284
Metal working Der al-Bakarah ... 592
Ancient Egypt ... ... 182 Forty Martyrs ... ... 568
Mediaeval ... 308 Macarius ... ... 509
Metammeh ... ...792 Nakadah, Coptic Monas-
Metelis (?) ... 68 teries ... ... ...617
Meter Abu Sofia 550 Natron Valley ... 508-10
Metternich Stele 530 Red Monastery (Der al-
Midan Bab al-Khalk 439 Ahmar) ... ... 602
Middle Empire 216-23 St. Anthony ... ... 284
Midwinter, Col. E. C. 786, 801, St. Catherine ... 559-69
808 St. Jeremiah ... ... 489
Miharrakah ... 754 St. Pisentius ... ... 617
Temple... 755 •
St. Simon or Simeon 730-1
Mihrab 33 * Syrian ... ... ... 509
Mileham, Mr. 766, 767, 768
,
Tabenna ... ... 612
Mina Al-Kamh 4*3 Wadi al-Ghazal ... 80
Minarets 304-7 White Monastery (Der
Al-Azhar ... 306 al-Abyad) ... ... 602
Al-Mu‘ayyad ... 307 Moncrieff, Mr. Scott ... 769
Amr ... ... ... 305 Mond, Mr. R. 678, 680-
Barkiik ... ... 306 Money ... 4, 5
Iskandar Pasha ... 305 Money Exchange 3
Ka‘it Bey f .. ... 306 Money Orders 17
KalaTin ... f .. ... 307 Mongalla 780, 850
Sultan Hasan ... 295 307 , Mongols ... 246
Tulun ... ... 305 Monophysites 239, 283
Minerals and Mineral Pro- Mons porphyrites ... 860
ducts ... 62 Montagu, Wort ley ... 574
— . 1 — . 1
926 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Months, Names of ... ... 353 Mosques (contd.)
Monuments, Tax on Visitors Ka‘it Bey 248, 295, 299,
to 25 300, 308, 450
Moon, Cult of ... ... 482 KalaTm .,
294, 300
Moon-God ... ... ... 126 Khargah •• 525
Moral Aphorisms ... ... 1 6 Khartum •• 834
Moral Worth ... ... 119 Kusun ... ... 294
Morality of Muhammadans 337 Luxor 619-20
Moravian Mission ... ... 420 Mansurah 505
Morgan, M. J. de 216, 425-6, Muhammad ‘Ali 454
494, 496, 497. 498, 610, Muristan Kalaun 445 446 ,
617, 619, 71 1, 718, 720, Old Donkola ...794

733 Omdurman 835
Morgan, Mr. Pierpont 535 St. Catherine’s Monastery 564
Moritz, Dr 439 Sanctuary 299
Mosaics 308, 562-3 Sheykhu 300
Moses 444, 548, 555, 557, Suleman Pasha . .
454
566, 567 Suyurghatmish ... ... 300
Bath 558 Sultan Hasan ... 294, 295,
Cave 567 296, 300
Stone 568 Worship ,.. ... 334
Well 405 550 , Zenab 453
M6sil ... 243 Mosquito Camp ... ... 853
Mosques Mosquitoes ... 403, 514, 557
Abu Bakr Mazhar ... 451 Mother of the Book ... 328, 333
Adh-Dhahir Beybars I 294, Mougel Bey 89, 91, 397
3 °° Barege 357, 392
Ahmad at Tanta 390
... Mougi ... 851
Ahmad ibn-Tiilun 241,293, Mouths of the Nile 80
300 Mruli 854
Aksunkur ... 294, 300 Mu‘awiyah ... 240
Al-Azhar 242, 294, 300, Mucianus ... 587
4 I 7 44 G 443
,
Mud, Nile Mud 41, 42, 74, 82,
Al-Ghilri 451 106
Al- Hakim 294,300,451 Muhammad Ahmad, the
Al-Maridany ... 294, 300 Mahdi, see Mahdi.
Al-Mu‘ayyad 295, 297, ... Muhammad ‘Ali 57, 83, 85, 88,
298, 300, 451, 452 89, 250, 251, 264, 384,
‘Aim 293 3<*>, 440, 442
. 397 460, 569, 593 615,
, ,
An-Nasir Muhammad ... 294, 776-7, 823, 829

300, 453 Tomb and Mosque 454, 455
As- Salih 294, 300 Muhammad al-Khalangi ... 24
Barkuk 294, 300, 308, Muhammad al-Kher ... 255
449 450 ,
Muhammad al-Mahdi ... 344
Cairo 293 300, 440-53 Muhammad an Nasir ... 3 I I
Hasan ... 447, 448 Muhammad Bey the Deftardar 823

Hasanen 339 Muhammad, General ... 24
Husen . .
441 Muhammad ibn Tughg called
Ibn KalaTm 453 the Ikhshid ... ... 242
Ibn-Tulun 444 445 , Muhammad ibn Suleman ... 416
Jebel Musa, Summit of 5 66, Muhammad ibn - Tumurt
567 (Mahdi) 34 4
1 6 — —— 1
INDEX. 927
PAGE PAGE
Muhammad the Prophet 239, ... Mummies and Mummifying
323, 392, 441 (contd.)
Ascension, Festival of ... 339 Magic ... 159
Camel’s Footprints ... 566 Meaning and origin of
Character, Habits, etc. 326 term ... ... ... 434
Christianity, attitude Method of Mummifying 434-7
towards ... 325, 342 Painting Mummies ... 436
Death 325 Mummy Chamber ... ... 164
First and Second Hijrah 324 Munich, Antiquarium of ... 819
Foreign Powers, Missions Munkar ... 328, 329, 350
to 325 Munzinger Bey ... ... 777
Personal Appearance ... 326 Murad ... ... ... 249
Suicide meditated ... 324 Murad Bey ... ... ... 441
Wives 324, 325 Murakki ... ... ... 334
“Muhammad, the son of the Murchison Falls ... 854
Hanafite ” (First Mahdi)... 343 Murder (punishment) ... 337
Muhammadan Era 12, 353, 365 Muristan Kalaun, Mosque of
Muhammadan Period 240-8 445 446 .
Muhammadans ... 27,71,72 Murtek, Pyramid of... ... 819

Abstemiousness ... 337 Musailima, False Prophet ... 327
Architecture and Art in Musawwarat as-Sufrah ... 826
Cairo 292-312 Museums
Bigotry and fanaticism 289, Arab Art at Cairo, see
291 Cairo.
Birth, Marriage, and Egyptian Antiquities at
Death 346-50
... Cairo, see Cairo.
Burial Customs... ... 329 Egyptian Antiquities,
Crime, punishment for 337-8 Khartum, see Khartum.
Education 285, 347
• •• Graeco - Roman Anti-
Festivals ... 338-41 quities, Alexandria ... 383
Marriage Customs ... 338 Music and Musical Instru-
Nubia, Conquest of ... 77 ments
Religion 328-41 Ancient... ... ... 16
Sects 341 Modern 316, 317
Muharram, Month of 338 Musicians ... ... 1 70, 317
Muhmiyak ... 813 Muski ... 458
Mu ‘izz Canal 411 Muslafa Kamil Pasha ... 275
Mu‘izz, Khalifah ... 343 417 Mustafa Yawar ... ... 793
Mukhtar 343 545 Mut ... 11 6 , 126, 129, 131
Mulberry 49 Mutammar ‘Ali ... ... 731
Mule ... 57 Mutawekkil ... 248
Miilid al-IIasanen ... 339 Temple ... ... ... 631
MCilid al-Nebi 339 Mutilation ... ... 163, 337
Muller 5ii Self-mutilation ... 279-80
Mummies and Mummifying 63, Mutmir ... 813
433-8 Mut-nefert ... 219
Antiquity of practice .., 433 Mycerinus, see Men-kau-Ra.
Belief of Ancient Myos-Hormos ... ... 857
Egyptians 12 , 434, 438 Mythology ... .... ... 60
Cost 434-5
Duration of practice ... 436
Internal Organs ... 437
1 .
928 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Navy-—
N. Muhammad c
Ali ... 251
Nabatean (Sinaitic) Inscrip- Nekau ... ... 227
tions 548, 573- Rameses III ... 224
Nabirah 388 Neb-er-tcher ... ... 126
Nadurah, Temple of Nebidh 313
532 ,
Nafishah Nebt-het (Nephthys) l6, 126,

... 408 I
Naga’ ‘ad-Der ... 604 135

Nagaa, Temples of ... 824-7 Neb-Maat-Ra, Pyramid of ... 821
N 3 Ham&di
g‘ 54, 612
Nebuchadnezzar II ... ... 228
N£i 3*8 Necho II (Nekau) 197 227,
,
Naif-aaiu-rut I (Nepherites) 230 229, 395

Naif-aaiu-rut II 230 Necropolis or Cemetery-
Nakadah 1 12, 209, 2 2, 610,
Abydos ... 605-6
617 Ad-D£r... ... 710
Tombs ... 426 Akhmim ... 604
Nakb al-Budrah, Pass of Al-Gazirah 756
552••
...
Nakb al-Hawi Aswan ... ••• 732

557 Karanog
Naldr ... 328, 329, 350 758-9
Nakkarah .. ... ... 318 Kurnat Murrai . . ... 682
Name, preservation of ... 122 Kushtamnah 751
Naming of Children Nubia ... 744 5
... 347 Shablul
Napata, Nept or Nepita, see ...
757
Gebel Barkal. Thebes ... ... 671
Napoleon Bonaparte 88, 135, Nectanebus I (Nektanebes) 199,
249 384. 396
,
230, 714
Napoleon (coin) Nectanebus 11 186, 199, 230,
5
Napoleon III ••• 398 503 504 529, 648, 737
,
Narcotics 313 Stele 489

Nar-mer Temple at Phibe 740
713
Narses 239 738,
Nefer... 430
Naser ... 846 Nefer-Abt 68
Nason, Col. ... ... 262 Nefer- Ament 68
Nasra 323 Nefer-hetep ... 217, 596
Nastasen 228, 773 Tomb ... 677, 678
Native Courts, Cost... 362 Nefer-hetep-s, Princess 493
Native Schools 275 Nefer-ka-ari-Ra, Pyramid of 484
Natives of Egypt 26 Nefer- khau - tehuti - mes
Character 27 (Thothmes II) 191
Khargah, Oasis of ... 522 Nefermaat, Tomb of 584
Religion ... 27 Nefer neferu-aten Neferti-it 192
Natron 63 Nefert-ari-meri-Mut, Tomb of 683
Natron Lakes ... 46 Nefer-Tem ... 115
Natron Valley ... 48, 508-10 Nefer-Temu ... ... 126, 131
Natural History ... 49 Nefert-hent, Sarcophagus of 495
Naucratis 228, 388 Negroes 290
Nautical Mile 1 Decree of Usertsen III 216
Naville, Prof. 104, 168, 231, Origin of Ancient
409, 412, 500, 503. 527. Egyptians ... 437-8
578, 581, 591 6lO, 6l !, ,
Tribes of the Sudan 781
612, 659, 660-1, 644, 667, Neha . ... ... ... 43 °
669, 713 Neheb-ka ... ... ... 127
6 — . 1
INDEX. 929
PAGE PAGE
Nelii 758 Nile (contd.)
Neith, see Net. Protection of Banks 85, 87,
Nekau, see Necho. 275. 276, 358
Nekheb 67, 710 Sadd ... ... 77
Nekhebet (Nekhebit) 67, 126, Sources ... 76, 80, 733
129, 131, 185, 379 Water 55
Temple ... ... ... 711 Worship of 74 75 ,
Nekht 596 Nile, Battle of 249, 384

Tomb 674-6 Nile- God •
75
••
Nekht Heiu-hebt (Nekta- Human sacrifice, tradb

nebes) ... ... 230 ... tion of . . ... 465
Nekht-neb-f (Nektanebos) ... 230 Nile-Red Sea Canal 227, 229,
Nelson 249, 384 236, 41
Nemareth ... ... ... 225 Nile-Red Sea Railway ... 271,
Neolithic Period, Remains of 585. 805-10
6 1 0-2, 617 Nile Valley Gold Mine ... 62
Nephthys, see Nebt-het ... 11 Nilometers 80, 81, 88, 464-6,
Nero 204-5 724-5, 742, 840, 842,
Nerva... ... ... 206, 236 843, 844. 851
Nes-ba-neb-Tettet ... ... 224 Nimr ... 250, 823
Nestorius 238, 375, 5 1 9, 604 Nimr the Mekh 777
Net (Neith) 68, 1 17, Nimuli ... 852
126, 131, 388 Nineveh ... 227
Temple ... ... ... 388 Nitocris (Nit-aqert) 476, 651
Neter ... ... ... ... 1 1 6 “ Nitocris ” ... ... 24
Neter-baiu or Perabsen 610
... Nitrates 55. 63
New Donkola ... 793
... Niumbe River ... 851
New Empire... ... 4,223-30 No, Lake 77, 78, 848
New Race ... ... ... 426 Nobatae 237. 239, 738, 775
New Sawakin or Port Sudan 14, Nomes 66, 67-9
805, 867 Nonnus 604
New York, Museum of ... 583 Nu ... 127
Niam-Niams ... ... ... ill Nubar Pasha ... 29, 252
Nicaea, Council of ...237 ... Nubas, Tribes of 781
Niebuhr ... 470, 545 574 , Nubia 216,239,220,222,224,
“ Night of Power ” 3 40 226, 228, 234, 239, 240,
Nile 1, 14, 24, 31, 39, 43, 66, 659. 743, 744-5. 758,
74 76-9, 80, 81
,
775, 794
Barrages 460,612,784,828 Pyramids ... ... 167
Cataracts, see that title. Sandstone ... ... 42
Colour 78 Temples, Restoration 745-6
Current ... ... ... 81-2 Nubian Kings of Egypt 226
Fish 59 Nubians in Egypt, Character
Flood level 725, 742, 789 of ... ... 290
Gauges, see Nilometers. Nub-kau-Ra-nekht, Tomb of 727
Inundation 50, 74-5, 82 Nub-Set (?) ... 189
Length 78, 856 Nubti... ... 218
Mouths ... ... ... 80 Numbers ... 156
Mud 41, 42, 74, 82, 106 Numbers, Tomb of ... 480...
Mystery of ... ... 75 Nur-ad-Din ... 244, 245

Navigation Dues, Aboli- Niiri, Pyramids of ... 167, 470 ,
tion 73, 360 799-800

3 N
—— . 3 4 .
930 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Nut ... n 6, 121, 127, 131 “ Oonas ” ... ... 24 ...
Nut-en-bak ... 67 Ophthalmia ... 15, 279-80, 522

Nut-Hekau ... ... ... 132 Opium ... ... 316, 336
Nyenburg, Egmont van der 574 Oranges ... ... ... 49
Orestes, Prefect of Alexandria 375
Ornamentation of Surfaces ... 304
o. Orthodox Sects ... ... 341
Oases... 39 44, 47~ S 62,
. , 1 1 6, Oryx ... ... ... ... 58
51 1-39 Osama Zed
bin ... 464
Ad-Dailah 512 Osiris 38, 68, 69, 114, 1 15,
Bahraiyah 5 II -2 116, 117, 118, 119, 121,
Dakhlah 512 124, 129. 130, 158, 159 .
Farafrah 512 160, 212, 605, 686, 737
Firan 554 758
History ... 517-21 “ ”
Osiris Beds 702
Khargah . . .
5 M 27 Osiris Chamber ... 742
Kurkur . . ••• 538 Osman Bey ... ... 818
Salimah ... 538-9 Osman Dikna 257, 259, 260,
Siwah or Jupiter Ammon 273, 261, 264
506, 5118 Osorkon I 185, 595 225 ,
‘Obedallah 343 Osorkon II ... 225 196,

Obelisks 176-7, 216, 219, Osymandyas, Tomb of 645-7
467 9,481, 628, 631, 632, ‘Othman 240. 248, 327, 343
633 732 , Otho ... 205, 235
Observatories Otiak ... 853
Helwan ... ... 36 12, Owen Falls ... 854
Mukattam Hills ... 243 Owen, Prof. ... 437
O’Connell,' Major 274 Ox 57
Octavianus ... ... ••• 234 Oxford Museum, Monument
Octroi Duties ... 73 3^0 , in ... 212
Ohrwalder, Father ... ... 345 Oxyrrhynchus 59, 68, 591-2
Oil Mountain 63
Okas, Fair at 323
P.
Old Donkola 79 4
Old Testament Pa Ahu-neb- Ament ... 68
Coptic Translation ... 134 Pacho, M. A. 550 511 ,
Septuagint 232 Pachomius . . 612

Olympias ... ••• ••• 230 Paheri, Tomb of 7«2
‘Omar, Discoverer of Coffee 31 Paiankh 224
‘Omar ibn ‘Abd al‘Aziz ... 241 Painetchem I .. 224
‘Omar, Khalifah 240, 3 2 7 343 , > Painetchem II ... 224
376 465 > Painting 179
‘Omayyad Khalifahs 240 - 1,343 Pakhet (Artemis) 527 378 594
, ,
Omdurman ... ••• 262, 833-7 Palaces 179, 242

Omdurman, Battle of 77 ^» 828 Palermo, Stele of 77i
On (Annu, Heliopolis), see Palestine 1 , 12 22, l6l, 220,

Heliopolis. 222, 224, 225, 226, 228,
On and Aven ... •212• • 233 244 ,
Onias... ... ••• 233* 499 Palmer, Prof. 54 H 544 546, ,
Onion, Temple Fortress of... 233, 547 55 H 553 563, 5 ^ 4

, , ,
499 566, 574

Onions ... 5 1 , 5 2 56, 278
,
Murder of 550
. 96 — 7 11
INDEX. 931
PAGE PAGE
Palmerston, Lord 397 Pen-ta-urt ... 628 ... ...
Palmyra, Arabs of ... ... 322 Song of ... 637 ... 16 1 ,
Pa-mai ... ... 196, 225 Pentu, Tomb of ... ... 600
Pa-Matchet ... ... ... 68 Pepil 187,214,546,732,743
Pa-nehsi, Tomb of... ... 600 Bronze Statue ... ... 7 13
Paneum of Alexandria ... 377 Pyramid ... 490, 49
P-ankhi ... ... ... 1 97
Pepi II 187,214,546,728,
Panopolis (Akhmim) 52, 67, 4 2 5 >
743
603 Pepi Nekht, Tomb of 727 , 729
Pa premis, Battle of ... ... 229 Per-ab-sen 186
Papyrus ... ... ... 52 Perennial Irrigation.., 84, 85, 95
Papyrus Sceptre ... ... 429 Pergamenian Library 375, 377
Para 5 1
Periods
Paradise ... ... ... 330 Archaic 183, 209 711 ,
Paran 555 713

Parcel Post ... ... ... 17
British ... ... 254-78
Pa-rehu, Prince of Punt 658, 659
Byzantine ... 238-40
Parembole 746
French 249
Parisian Limestone
Greek ... ... 23 1 -4
44 Muhammad ‘Ali and
Parsons, Col. 262
Parties 2 21 ,
his family ... 250-4
Muhammadan ... 240-8
Pasebkhanu . . 501 Neolithic ... 585
Pasebkhanut I 224 Pre-dynastic ... 604-5
Pasebkhanut II 224 Roman ... ... 234-8
Pa-ser 765 Turkish ... 248-9
Pasha’s Road 569
Perring ... ... 470, 49
Passengers’ Baggage Insur-
Persecution of Christians 236,
ance, etc. ... 13 , 16
Passports 12
237. 243. 248, 282, 322,
Pa-Tem (Pithom) 68 375. 486, 519. 710
Perseus, Temple of ... 603-4
Pa Uatchet, Per
- - Uatchet
Persia 228,231,239,342,343
(Buto) ... 69, 129, 185
Paulinus
Pert 50
499 Pertinax 236
Pant Neteru ... 1 1
Per-Uatchit (Per-Uatchet) 129,
Pavilion of Raineses III 651
185
Peaches 49
Peake, Col. ...
Pescennius Niger 236
77 Peshamut (Psammuthis) 230
Peas ... ... ... 50 5 i Peta-Amen-em-apt, Tomb of 68
Peasant, Story of 62
Pecunia
683
4 Peta-sa-Bast ... ... 225 ...
Peet, Mr 610, 611 Peter Mongus ... 239 ...
Pehsukher, Tomb of 677 Peter the Deacon ... ... 768
Peki River ... 851 Peter the Reader ... ... 375
Pelican 58 Petrie, Prof. 470, 486, 50 1,
Pellegrini 771 546. 583, 584. 587, 588,
Pelusium 227, 240, 244, 398 591, 6n, 617, 682,
Pelusium, Battle of ... 228, 233 Petroleum 276
63,
Pencoyd Ironworks ... ... 81 I Petronianus 647
Penni, Grave of ... 758 Petronius 749-50, 758
Pensions, Cost of ... ... 363 Phagrus 59
Pentateuch ... ... ... 329 Phakussa 69
3 N 2
- —— . *
932 INDEX*
PAGE PAGE
Phallus, cult of ... 483 Plans (contd.) —
Pharan ... ... ... 554 Philae, Island of
Pharanitis
... 736
... ... ... 554 Pyramids ... 491, 492
Pharaoh, Derivation of ... 185 Ramesseum at Kurnah
Pharaoh’s Bath, Mountain of 551
645
St. Catherine, Monastery
Pharaoh’s Bed ... ... 503 of 560
Pharos 232, 376 Temples 529, 530, 532,
Pharsalia, Battle of .. . ... 233 607, 608, 614, 626,
Phidon, King of Argos 4
...
627 . 643, 644, 649,
PhiBe 25, 37, 81, 99, 230, 650, 653, 656, 666,
735 42 709 7 , 5 7 i 9 . > . 746 -
Temples ... 103-5
Temples of Isis and
57 762-3. 765,
.
Osiris, destruction by
797, 824-7
Tombs 164, J65, 1 66, 167,
Narses 239 661, 662, 663, 677, 681,
Philip Arrhidaeus 231 683, 687, 693-6, 698-
Philotera ... 200 700, 728
Phoenicia ... 220 Platt, Miss ... ... 510 ...
Phoenix 468, 591 Pliny 4,216,395,470,485,
Phonetics 139 586, 774
Phosphates 63 Plough 52
Phut ... 106 Plutarch 606, 724
Piankhi 225, 418, 467, 486, Poets (ShiPara) 319
743 773, Police Force... 29
Temple ... ... ... 798 Polygamy
Piastre
337
... ... ... 5 Polyphones . .
139
Pi-Beseth (Bubastis) 69, 1 17, Pomegranates 49
125, 225, 412 Pompey 233
Pig 57 Pompey’s Pillar 237 378 ,
Pigeon Guano ... 55 Poncet

...
5*9
Pigeons ... ... 59 Poole, Mr.
Pik or Dira ...
...
s 77 450
... ... 6 Population 6 9 72, 279, 523,
Pilgrimage to Mecca 335~6 543-4
Pillars, Details of ... 172-8 Porphyry Quarries... 42, 63, 860
Pillow ... ... ... 429 Port Sa‘id 12, 14, 23, 34, 70,
Pithom 68, 409, 410, 578, 581
7 G 372 393 ,
Plague ... 242, 247, 248 Port Sa‘id Railway 265, 270
Plans — Port Sudan ...
...
14,805,867
Aswan Dam ... 100, IOI Post Office
Asyut Barrage ... ... 93 Penny Rate ... ... 272
Gebel Barkal Pyramids Profits 267, 268, 274-8
.
and Temples ... 796 Savings Bank 73, 265, 266,

Houses in Cairo 300-3 272, 276, 277
Jebel Musa, Summit of 567 Postage and Telegraphs ... 16
Karnak 633. 634, 635, Poste Restante ... ... 12
636, 638 Potato Cultivation at Khargah 537
Kom ash - Shukafah, Potipherah ... 579
Tomb at ... ... 380 Pottery
Meroe, Pyramids of ... 816 Ancient Egypt .. 183, 209
Mosques 442-6, 448-50, Modern Egypt .. 31 1
452 Nubia ... 758

A ...
Necropolis at Dahshur 496 Powendael, Lake ... 849

— 1
INDEX. 933
PAGE PAGE
P-Ra-her-unamif, Tomb of 683 Ptolemny Lagus ... 231,232
Prayer 123, 153, Ptolemy I (Soter I) 199 ...
285, 331 - 5 349 , 232, 374, 684

Calls to 35 1-3 Ptolemy II (Philadelphia) ... 161,
Funeral Prayers ... 349 200, 231, 232, 374, 395,
Precepts ... ... ... 161 503, 504, 536, 716, 774.
Predestination ... ... 331 857. 858
Predestined Prince, Story of 1 62 Ptolemy III (Euergetes I) ... 155,
Pre-dynastic Period III, 112,115, 200, 231, 232, 374, 385,
' 53 163. 3 <i. 604-5
. 536, 774
Sketch of ... 209-11 Ptolemy IV (Philopator I) ... 200,
Prenomen of Kings ... ... 185 231, 232, 670, 740, 774
Preserved Table or Tablet ... 328 Ptolemy V (Epiphanes) ... 135,
Press Law ... 276 201, 233, 385, 740
Priest-Kings ... 180, 224 Inscription ... ... 136
Priests 58, 117, 1 1 8, 120, 162, Ptolemy VI (Eupator) 201, 233
167,224, 425, 750 Ptolemy VII (Philometor I) 201,
Prison Pyramid 488, 489 233, 670, 741
Prisons Ptolemy VIII (Eupator II or
Administration ... 265, 273 Neos Philopator) ... 202, 233
Ancient Egypt ... ... 179 Ptolemy IX (Euergetes II,
Omdurman 836 ... Physkon) 202, 233, 632, 648,
Prisse Papyrus 682 ... 650, 670, 71 1, 718, 741
Privacy, love of 30 B Ptolemy X (Soter II, Philo-
Probus ••• 237 metor II) 202, 233, 648, 71 I
Progress under British Rule 357-64 Ptolemy XI (called Alex-
Prophets ... ... ... 329 ander) 202, 233
Provinces of Modern Egypt 69 Ptolemy XII (Alexander II) 203,
Prudhoe, Lord 509, 545, 574 233
Psalms ... ... ... 329 Ptolemy XIII (Neos Dionysos,
“ Auletes ”) 20 3, 233, 648
Psalter 564
Psammetichus ... 388, 642 Ptolemy XIV ... 203, 233
Psammetichus I (Psemthek) 197, Ptolemy XV... ... ... 234
198, 227 Ptolemy XVI (Caesarion) ... 234
Psammetichus II ... ... 228 Ptolemy the Geographer ... 547,
Psammetichus III ... 198, 228 554 722 ,
Psammuthis (Peshamut) ... 230 Puam, Coffin of ... ... 680

Pselcis, see Dakkah. Public Buildings 267, 277
...
Psoi (Al-Manshah) ... ... 604 Public Debt ... 252, 264, 265,
I’tah ... 68, 115, 127, 13! 266, 267, 270, 272, 275,
Temple at Memphis 486, 487 276, 277 363 ,
Ptah of Memphis, Temple of 63 1 Public Health 267, 270, 276

Ptah-hetep ... ... 161 Public Works Department ... 86
Precepts ... 682 Pumpkins ... ... ... 51
Tomb ... 494 Pumps for Irrigation ... 90
Ptah-nefert, Tomb of ... 588 Punt, Expeditions to, etc. 4, 107,
Ptah-Seker ... 127, 13 2l6, 2 19, 222, 658 60, 859
Ptah-Seker- Asar 127 Purgatory ... ... ... 120
Ptah-Tatenen ... !27 Pygmies ... 214,727-8,771
Ptolemaic Period I 34, 153 , 174 , Pylon 169, 7 1, 628 1
*75 Pyramids ... 89, 164, 165,

Ptolemies 4, 1 *8 166, 167, 470-97
— — — 5
934 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Pyramids ( contd .
)
Pyramids contd (
,
.
)
Abu Roash ... 470, 481 Sakkarah 214,470,487-94

Abusir ... 214, 470, 481 Step 213, 487
Al-kulah ... 710 Tankasi...
...
470, 795
Al-lahun, Illahun 21 6, 470, Teta (Tet-asu, Prison) 488,
589 489
Amen-akha ... ... 819 Tirikanlat, King ... 821
Amen-arit or Kenta- Unas (Nefer-as-u) 488
...
hebit,Queen 818 User-en-Ra 483-4

744,
Amen-Khetashen, King 821 Zawyet al- ‘Aryan 470
Amen-netek Zuma 470, 795
821 Pyramids, Battle of...
Amen-Shipelta, Queen 249. 423
819
Arkenkherel ... 819 Q.
Arq-neb-Amen ... ... 823
Asru-meri-Amen ... 822 Qa or Qebh ... ... 6lO
As-Sur ... ... 823 Qebh-sennuf ... 127, 131
Bagrawir (Meroe) 470, Qebt ... 134
81523 Qen Amen, Tomb of 680, 68l
Blunted or truncated 481-2, Qerti ... 80
495 Quail ... - 58
Cheops (Great) ... 35,470, Shooting 13
471-4 Quarries
Chephren ... 474-6 Al-Hosh 717
Dahshur 2 1 6, 470, 488, Aswan ... 732 38,
495-8 Clay ••• 732
El-lahun ... ... 470 Granite ... 739, 792 860 ,
False Pyramid ... ... 584 Hagar or Gebel Silsilah 44,

Fayyum ... ... 470 717
Gebel Barkal ... 470, 796-7 Memphis 230
Gtzah 213,273,453,470, Porphyry 42
471-9 Sandstone 43
Hawarah 216, 470, 588 Wadi Hammamat ... 859
Illahun, see Al-lahun. Quartzite ... 63
Kaltela 823 Queens, Valley of Tombs of 683
Kenreth, Queen ... 822 Queens of Egypt, see Kings
Khu-asut ... ... 66 7 and Queens.
Kochome ... 487 Quibell, Mr 489, 7 > i G 7I3
Kurru 470, 795 Quintus Curtius ... 507
Lisht 470, 583
Mediim ... ... 583-4 R.
Men-kau-Ra (Mycerinus)
476-9 Ra 1 15, 1 16, 1 17, 1 18, 1 19,
Meren-Ra (Hunters) 490 120 ,
521 , 127 , 129, 158,
Meroe ... 470, 815-23 214 685, 758 ,
Murtek ... ... ... 819 Book of Praisings or

Neb Maat-Ra ... ... 821 Litanies of ... ... 686
Nefer-ka-ari-Ra 484 ... Hymn 144-52,530
to
Nun 167, 470, 799-800 Raamses ... 409, 410, 578
Pepi I ... ... ... 490 Rababah 317
Pepi II 491 Rabak, Bridge across Nile... 784
Sahu-Ra ,.. ... 483 Radasiyah ... ... ... 7 1
— .
INDEX. 935
PAGE PAGE
Radishes 5 i Rameses IV ... 859 194, 224,
Ra-en-user ... 214 Mummy... 688
Rafiif ... 516 Temple ... 682
Raggaf and Raggaf Hill 851 Tomb 695, 697, 699
Rahad River... ... 62,841 Rameses V ... 194, 224
Ra-Harmachis (Ra-Heru- Mummy... 688
khuti) 127, 131, 479, 480 Rameses VI ... ... 194,224
Ra-hetep, Tomb of... ... 585 Mummy... 688
Railway Time in Various Tomb ... 697* 698
Countries ... ... ... 11 Rameses VII... 194,224
Railways 36, 25 1, 270, 583, 802 Rameses VIII 194,224
Profits 265, 267, 273, 274, Rameses IX ... 195 224, 632
276, 277, 278 Tomb 697 9
Reduction of tariff ... 73 Rameses X ... 195, 224
For particular railways, Tomb ... 699, 700
see their names. Rameses XI ... 1 95, 224
Rain ... ... ... ... 32 Tomb 699

Rainy Season ... ... 81 Rameses XII... 95 224, 632 1 r
Rakoti (Raqetit) 23 1 373

... ,
Tomb 699, 700
Kam 57, 129, 502-3 Ramesseum .
37, 645-7
.
Ram (stone) ... ... ... 831 Ramleh 34, 383

Ramadan Bairam ... ... 340 Rammius Martialis, Eparch 860
Ramadan Fast ... ... 340 Ransome and Rapier, Messrs. 92,
Ra-men-kheper-senb, Tomb 97 103 ,
of 677, 680 Ra-nub 487

Rames, Tomb of ... ... 679 Raphia, Battle of 233
Rameses I (Ra-messu) 192, 222, Raqetit (Rakoti) 23L 373
632 Ras Abu Zanimah 55i
Mummy ... ... 690 Ras al-Gisr ... 489
Tomb ... ... 690, 692 Ras as-Safsaf... 550 566 ,
Rameses II 161, 173, 193, 222, Ra-sekhem-ka 217

384. 395. 408, 411. 486, Ra-sekhem (P)-khu-taui Sebek-
501, 577, 578-9. 608, hetep I 188
609, 626, 628, 629, 631, Rashid Bey . 256
632, 637, 642, 643, 645, Rashid or Rosetta, see
71 1, 752, 761-4 Rosetta.
Chapel Abu Simbel 764-5
at Rashid Pasha ... 250
Colossal Statue 486-7, 642 Rauf Pasha ... ... 256
Court at Luxor... 628-9 Rawyan ... 828
Mummy... ... ... 692 Red Monastery ... 602
Pillar ... ... ... 173 Red Sea 42, 404 406, 580-1
Temples 2, 608, 609, Red Sea-Nile Canal 227, 229,
718, 760-4 236, 41 I
Tomb ... ... 692, 693 Red Sea Province ... 780
Rameses III ... 25, 162, 194, Reeds 52 1 61
224, 632, 648 Rehoboam 225 •
Mummy... ... ... 695 Reinach, A. J 616 .
Palace at Tell al-Yahu- Reisner, Dr. 604, 7 2, 744

diyah ... ... ... 499 Rekhmara, Tomb of 672 4
Pavilion and Temple ... 651, Religion
652 5 Ancient Egyptian^ 1 12 32
Tomb 695, 696 Copts 283-8
.
936 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Religion (, contd.)— Rosetta Arm of Nile 39, 80
Khargah, Oasis of 524 Rosetta Barrage 89-91
Muhammadan ... 326-44 Rosetta Stone 134, 135-6, 233,
People, religion of Il8 386
Sudan ... 782 Ross, Major ... 403
Religious Festivals ... 171 Rotl
Ren ... I 2 I Rousseau Pasha 90
Renenet 127 , 131 Routes to Egypt 23,24
Renna, Tomb of 713 Royalties 62, 782
Renting Value, Egypt 56 Royle, Mr. 252, 254, 255, 259,
Repentance ... I 19 260, 263, 824
Rephidim, Battle of 554, 555 ,
Roziere 574
556 Rubbish of Ruins, Use as
Reptiles ...59 Manure 55. 56
Reservoirs ... ... ...59 Rubensohn, Herr ... 72s
Reshpu ... 127, 131, 132 Rufa‘a ... 840
Restau ... ... ... 123 Rum Umm Gursan ... ••• 845
Resurrection, belief in ... 12 1, Rundall, Gen. J. H. 90
329-30, 434 438 ,
Riippell 545 574,
Revenue 264, 2 66, 267, 269, Ruseres ... 842

272, 274, 275, 276, 277, Russia, Commercial Con-
~ 36 ° vention with Egypt 56
Sudan 782-3 Rutennu 637
Rhampsinitus 472
Rhinoceros 58
Rhinocolura 39 S.
Rhodopis 479
Riaz Pasha 253 Sa 127
Ribton, Mr. 254 Sa al-Hagar ... ... ... 388
Ricci ... 545 Sa‘a 6
Rice . . 50 51 ,
Sa-Amen 224, 486
Richmond, Mr. E. T. 105 Saba, Bursting of dam ... 322
Rifa‘iyah Dervishes 354 Sabaco (Shabaka) 1 97, 226, 628,
Rikk 318 648
Rikkah 583 Sabaism ... ... ... 323
Ripon Falls ... 76, 78, 854, 855 Sabbatai Zevi ... ... 344
Ritter... #
... 547 Sabina ... ... 206, 236
Ritual of Amen 171 Sabna and Mekhu, Tomb of 726,
Riyal ... 5 728
Robert, Count of Artois 505 Sachot ... ... ... 405
Robinson 545 547 ,
Sacred Animals, Birds, etc. 12 q
Rock of Abusir 770, 788 Sacred names, Magical power
Rock of Horeb ... 568 159, 160
Rock-hewn tombs 222, 512, Sadd or Sudd 77, 844, 848, 849
725-30 Sadenga, Temple at 220, 772,
E.odah, Island of 81 464, 597 791
Rohlfs 5 1 1 ,
512, 5 * 3 521,
Sadler, Col. Hayes ... ... 769
Roman Period 234-8 Saha 325
Rome, Temples to Egyptian Saft al Hannah 503
Gods ... 236 Sagat 318
Rope-dancers ... ... 318 Sah I 2I
Rosetta 12, 385 Sahal, Island of 213 733-4
,
9 1
INDEX. 937
PAGE PAGE
Sahrah ... ... ... 346 Salt 36, 63, 265, 266, 2 68,
Sah-u-Ra, Sahu-Ra 187, 254, 270, 387, 538, 793
546, 641 Salt Water Lakes ... 46, 59
Pyramid 483 Salted Fish ... ... ... 59
Sai, Island of ... ... 790 Samallut ... ... ... 592
Sa‘id Pasha 86, 251, 397, 422, San (Tanis, Tchal), see Tanis.
424, 441, 454, 777, 806 Sana, Lake ... ... 79, 842
St. Anthony, Convent of ... 284 Sanam Abu-Dom ... ... 795
St. Barbara, Church of, Cairo 463 Sand-bars ... ... 46, 47
St. Bartholomew 519 Sand Dunes ... ... ... 537
St. Catherine, Monastery of Sandstone 42, 43, 63
.
559-69 Sanehat, Story of ... ... 1 6
Chapel of the Burning Sanjak Saleh Wad al-Mekh 841

Bush 563 Sannures ... 585
Church of the Trans- Sapi-Meht ... ... ... 68
figuration ... 562-3 Sapi-Rest ... 68
Crypt 565 Sa-Ptah 223, 680
Helena’s Tower ... 562 Tomb ... ... 699-700
Library and MSS. ... 564 Sarabit al-Khadiro 546, 570-3
Mosque... ... ... 564 Copper Mines ... ... 62
Plan ... ... ... 560 Sarapis, and see Serapis.
Relics of St. Catherine 563 Sa-renput, Tomb of... 727, 729
Servants ••• 565 Sa-renput-a, Tomb of 729-30
St. George, Church of 463, 464 Sargon ... ... ... 226
St. Ibsadah, Church of ... 731 Sarrah ... 768
St. Jeremiah, Monastery of .. 489 .
Sarras ... 788
St. Jerome ... ... ... 58 Satap ... 596
St. Mark 235, 283, 375 Satet 127, 132
St. Mary Deipara, Convent Saut (Lykopolis, Asyut), see Asyut.
of (Der Suryani) ... 509,510 Saut (Sa'is), see Sa'is.
St. Menas 461 Sawa‘a ... ... ... 323
St. Onuphrius, Chapel of ... 568 Sawakin ... ... 780, 805
St. Petersburg, Imperial Sawakin Expedition ... 259
Public Library ... ... 510 Sawakin-Berber Railway ... 259
St. Pisentius, Monastery of 617 Sawdah ... ... ... 324
St. Sangarius ... ... 566 7 10, 71 1, 7 1 2, 813
Sayce, Prof.
St. Simon or Simeon, Monas- Sayyid ‘Abd - Allahi, the
tery of ... ... 730-1 Khalifah 259, 260, 262-3,
Sa'is (Saut) 68, 117, 126,226, 346, 779. 835
227, 230, 388 Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi,
Saldyah (Water Wheel) 53, 54, 55 Tomb and Mosque 389-91
Sakkarah ... 26, 421, 425 “ Scarab ” ... ... ... 24
Necropolis and Pyramids 213, Scarabs 21, 60, 129, 153,
214, 424, 470 487-8 ,
430-3
Salah ad- Din (Saladin) 245, 417, Scenae Veteranorum... 233, 499
453 504 ,
Scete ... ... ... ... 508
Salahiya ... ... ... 843 Schafer, Dr. ... ... 481
Salamat ... ... ... 803 Schefer, M. Charles ... 310
Sale 328 Schiaparelli, Mr. ... ... 683
Salim 248,417,776, Schoinos ... ... ... 75 1
806 Schools ... 21, 28, 320

Salimah, Oasis of ... 538 - Schweinfurth, Dr. ... 45» 521
1 1
93 § INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Scorpion Goddess ... 128 Senemel 735
Scorpions ... ... 60, 129 Sengah 780, 842
Scott- Moncrieff, Mr., Murder 276 Senhit 777 ...
Scott-Moncrieff, Sir Colin 9 1I, 98 Senka-Amen-seken 799 ...
Scriptures 329 Sen-mes, Tomb of 729
Sculpture 180 Sen-Mut 168, 219, 659-60
Seaa-ka-nekht-kheperu-Ra 192 Tomb ... ... ... 679
Sea- Power, Egypt as 224 227, Sennaar ... 77 6, 780, 840
251 Battle ... ... ... 777
Seankhka-Ra ... 859 Sennacherib ... ... ... 226
Statue ... ... 640 Sen-nefer, Tomb of... ... 676,
Season for Travelling 1
1,> 515
M- 5 , 680, 681, 699
542 Sent King ... ... 212,433
Seasons of the Year 50 Sent (Latopolis) ... ... 708
Sebbakh 55 56 ,
Senusi, Mahdi of ... ... 344
Sebek... 1 15 127 129, 132, Sept (nome) 67, 69
590, 708 Sept, Sothis (Dog-star) 69, 1 27
Sebek-em-sa-f I 189, 217, 640 Septuagint. ... ... ... 232
Sebek-em-sa-f II 89 Seqenen-Ra I-III ... ... 218
Sebek-em-sau-f ... ... 217 Serapeum 377, 404, 424, 489,
Sebek-hetep... ... ... 217 492-3
Tomb ... ... ... 730 Serapeum Library ... ...377
Sebek-hetep I ... ... 188 Serapion ... ... ...503
Sebek-hetep II ... ... 188 Serapis IB 8, 1 24, 508, 737
Sebek-hetep III ... ... 188 Temple ... 239, 375, 385
Sebek-hetep IV ... ... 189 Serapis (Apis Bull), see Apis Bull.
Sebek-hetep V 189 Senemel ... ... ... 735
Sebek-neferu-Ra ... 188,217 Serdab ... ... ... 164
Sebek-nekht, Tomb of ... 713 Serekh 184
Sebennytos (Theb-neter?) 68, 230 Serpents ... ... 1 29, 162
Second Cataract 2, 79, 128, 770, Serpent’s Head ... ... 430
788, 790 Serqet (Selqet) 128, 129, 132
Seetzen 545, 574 Serut fly ... 844
Sefekh-Abiu ... ... ... 132 Servius Tullius ... ... 4
Seker I 27, 129, 132, 487 Sesebi, Temple ol ... ... 792
Sekhem (Letopolis) ... ... 68 Seshesh 67
Sekhem or vital power ... 12 Seshetat ... ... 128
Sekhet ...” I 15, 128, 32 1 Sesostris ... ... ... 216
Sekhet-hemam (Salt Field)... 48 Set or Typhon 57, 67, 68, I 16,
Selah ..."
585 1 17, 128, 132, 218, 602
Selqet, see Serqet. Sethe, Herr ... ... ... 610
Semen-Ptah or Smerkhat 546, 6 10 “ Seti ” 24
Semitic Settlers 217 Seti I 1 93, 222, 626, 632, 637,
Semliki River 854 643, 686, 71
Semnah 79, 88, 128, 216, 226, Mummy... ... ... 692
788, 789 Temple... ...607-9,716
Semti or Hesepti 153, 186, 212 Tomb ... ... 690-2
Sen, Tomb of 730 Wells 716
...
Seneca 377 Seti II 1 61 , 193, 223, 632, 680

Seneferu 86, 213, 546, 584, Tomb 693, 695
743 77 i ,
Set-Nekht ... 185, 193, 223
Senekht-en-Ra 219 Tomb 695, 696
. 1
INDEX. 939
PAGE PAGE
Seton-Karr, Mr. H. W. ••• 585 Shekh Shuhet 390
Setu, Tomb of 713 Shellal 734
Seven Years’ Famine 213 Shemut 50
Severus A
. . 208, 236 Shen ... 184
Seyf-ad-din Inal ... 248 Shendi ... 776 777, 823
»
Seyf-ad-din Tatar ... 247 Shennu (Cartouche) 184

Shaaban 340 Sheniiti 461 602
Sha‘arawiyah Dervishes 355 Shep-en-ap ... 651
Shabaka (Sabaco) ... 197, 226, Shep-en-Apt... ... 227
628, 648 Shepherd Kings 2 1 7, 219, 486,
Shabakat, Well of ... ... 795 577 682,710 743 745
* *
Sha‘ban 333 Sherek 804

Shabasha ... 843 Sherif Pasha 253
Shabataka 197, 226 Sheykhu, Mosque of 300
Shablangah ... 413 Shi'a Sect ... 242
Shablul, Cemetery of ... 757 Shibergah 841
Shaduf 53, 54, 55 Shibin al-Kom 69
ShafeS 34 i Shibr... 6
Tomb ... ... 455 ShPites, or Imamians 342, 343
ShafeStes 341 Shinnawiyah Dervishes 355
Shagar ad- Durr ... 246 Shipwrecked Traveller, Story of
Shahin Bey ... 454 161
Shai ... ... 128 Shirkiik ... ... ... 245
Shaluf Cutting 404 Shishak, see Shashanq.
Shambi 77 “ Shooting the Cataract ” at
Lagoon ... ... 848 Aswcin ... ... ... 724
Shams ad-Dawlah Turan Shrewmouse ... ... 1 29
Shah Shrine of Temple ... ... 171

... 77 6
Sharkiyah 69, 41 Shu I 15, I 16, 128, 432
c
Sharpe, Samuel ••• 574 Shu ara ... ... ... 319
Shashanq I (Shishak) 88, 195, Shubra ... ... ... 460
225, 501, 632, 637 Shutarna, King of Mitani ... 220
Shashanq II ... 196, 501 Shutb... ... ... ... 67
Shashanq III 196, 501 Sicard, Claude ... ... 5 09
Shashanq IV... 196, 225 Sickenberger, Dr. ... ... 46
Shas-hetep ... 67 Sidney, Maj. 803
Shasu... ... ... 637 Sieglin, Dr. E., of Stuttgart 475
Shatt ar- Regal ...717 Sikkat Shu‘aib ... ... 568
Shaw ... 470 Siliceous Sandstone at Gebel
Shawar 244 245,
Ahmar ... ... ... 43
Shawwal 844 Silko 239, 739, 747* 775 794 *
Sheep 57 Silsilah ... 43, 44, 8 1, 7 17

Tax, abolition of 73 Silurus ... ... ... 59
Shekh ‘Abd al-Kurnah 425 Silver Money ... ... 4
Cemetery ... 671 Silwah ... ... ... 717
Shekh al-Balad 181, 248 Sinai, Peninsula of 22, 39, 42,
Shekh Apagada of Cairo 399 71, 107, 540
Shekh Dalai ... 845 Authorities on ... 541-2
Shekh Muhammad Sherif ... 255 Boundary Dispute ... 545
Shekh Nur At-Tayyib, Tomb of 844 Copper and Turquoise
Shekh Salih, Tomb of 569 Mines... 62, 213, 553,
Sh£kh Salim... ... 843 546 - 7 57 2 -3
.
——
940 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Sinai, Peninsula of (could .
)
Soil of Egypt 4 G 74
Geology 543 See also Mud.
History 546-50 Soleb... 772, 791
Holy Places 547 50 559 ,
Solum, Gulf of 39
Map ... ... ... 540 Somerset River ... 76
Monasteries ... ... 547 Song of the Harper ... 160
Mount Sinai ... 541,555 Sonnini 509
Population ... 543-4 Sophocles, Works of 374
Practical Information for Sostratus the Cnidian 376
Travellers ... 542, 557-8 Sothic Period 155
Scenery 543 Sothis 155
“ Soudan Game Ordinance ”
Sinaitic Inscriptions 548, 573-6 60
Sinaru ••• 585 Sow ... 129
Sinballawen ... ... ... 502 Sparkes, Col. 62, 264
Singar Al-Gawaly and Salar, Sparrows ... 58
Mosque of... ... ... 300 Spectacles, tinted 15
Singing 316 Speke, Capt. 76
Sinn al-Kiddab ... ... 43 Speos Artemidos 593
Sistra... ... ... ... 161 Sphinx 213, 479, 481
Siwah, Oasis of 39, 48, 69, 273, Excavation by Thoth-
506-8,511 mes IV 220
Sixth or Shablukah Cataract 79, Temple 168, 476, 480
827 Sphinxes 171, 217, 501
Slatin Pasha ... 264, 345, 346, Avenues 492, 529, 63 632
S30, 83! Spiegelberg, Dr. 498
Slavery and the Slave Trade Spinach 52
Extinction of Trade in Spirits 3, 1 *4, 316
Egypt 265, 266, 270 Spitta Bey, Dr. 439
Muhammad ‘Alt, Trade Sprained Ankle 15
under ... ... ... 777 Stable of ‘Antar 594
Number of slaves freed 267, Stairs 430
273 Stalactite or pendentive
Omdurman, Market at 836 Bracketing 308
Raiding ... ... 61,213 Stanley, Dean 541 547 555 *
Sudan 77 1, 772.783
... Stanley, Mr. H. M. 854
Sloane, Mr. ... ... ... 486 Stanton, Col. 839
Sma 430 Stars ... 55 . *56
Smen-Heru ... ... ... 68 Steam Dahabiyyahs... 24
Smerkha, Smerkhat... 546, 610 Steam Pumps for Irrigation 54
Smith, Mr. George... ... 2 b8 Steamer Communication ... 273
Smith, Prof. G. Elliot 108, 221, Stefani 813
688, 707, 744 Steindorff, Dr. 515
Smith, Sir C. Ilolled 769
... Stelae 489, 501, 517, 530 ,
Smith, Sir Sydney ... 249, 505 57 > 734

Snake Charmers ... ... 318 Canopus, Stele of 232, 501
Snakes ... ... 60 Stem priest ... ... ... 819
So, see Shabaka. Step Pyramid ... 213, 487
Soane’s, Sir John, Museum 222 Stephen of Byzantium ... 554
Soba ... 839
••• Stephenson, Gen, Sir F. 257, 259
Sobat River 78, 82, 846 Stern, Dr. ... ... ... 439
Sobat, Valley of ... ... 81 Stewart, Col. ... ... 259
Soda or Natron, see Natron, Murder 34 5, 803
5
1
INDEX. 941
PAGE PAGE
Stewart, Sir Herbert •
257, 258 Suez Canal ( contd.) —
“ Stone Belly ” ... ... 789 Capital raised ... ... 399
Stone of Moses ... ... 568 Concession, Date of
Stone Sarcophagi ... ... 164 Expiry ... ... 400
Stone Pulpit ... 308 ... ... Cost of Machinery, etc. 398
Story-tellers 314, 319 Difficulties of Construc-
Strabo 395, 467,492,508,517* tion, etc. 398
587, 588, 603, 606, 612, Distance saved ... ... 401
613, 621, 623, 647* 962, Inauguration Ceremonies
684, 708, 724, 739, 750, —Cost ... ... 399
774* 775* 776, 810, 81 1 Length, Width and
Strauss 547 Depth ... 398-9
Strawberry ... 49 Tides ... ... ... 398
Streeter. Mr. E. W. 63 Traffic Receipts, etc. 400-1
Stuart, Mr. Villiers... 410 Suez Canal Tramway, Con-
Stuart’s Tomb 679 version into Railway 372, 394*
Subterranean Sanctuary at 407
Der al-Bahari 668-70 Suez, Gulf of ... ... 42
Succoth (Thuku) 68, 409 Sufism ... ... ... 342
“Sudan” 24 Sugar 50-1
Sudan 54 213,
4, 48, 49, 50, * Factories 59 1, 593, 707
214, 250, 261, 357* 727* Suhag ... ... 70, 602
743 771 778-9 , * Suhak ... ... ... 4 1
Anglo - Egyptian Con- Suhakiyah Canal ... ... 83

dominium Agreement 779 Suk ... ... ... ... 456
Animals... ... ... 60 Sulb or Soleb, Temple at 772, 791
Boundaries 756, 766, 771, Suleman, Khalifah ... ... 24
779 Suleman Pasha, Mosque of 454
Governors- General ... 785 Suleman, son of Zuber Pasha 778
History ... 771-85 Suleman Wad Kamr... 259,803
Justice ... ... ... 784 Sulphur Mines ... ... 63
Language ... ... 782 Sulphur Springs 36
Natives ... ... 781 Sultan Hasan, Mosque of ... 294,
Population ... 780-1 295, 296, 300, 307
Provinces ... ... 780 Sultani dates ... ... 50
Railways, Map of ... 802 Sun, Beat of... 120, 1 2 1, 123
Religion... ... ... 782 Sun, Fountain of ... ... 5 07
Revenue and Expendi- Sun God ... I 16, I 17, 120,
ture 782-3 125, 127, 467
Slavery ... 771, 772, 783 Human Sacrifices ... 483
Sport Big — Game Shoot- Temple... ...481-3,815
ing 61 Sunnites ... ... 34 5 343 *
Telegrams ... ... 17 Sunstroke ... ... ... 1
Trade 532 783 , Stmt (Acacia) ... ... 49

Sudd, see Sadd. Sunt, see Aswan.
Suddite factory 785 Surandala ... ... ... 405
Suez 12, 14, 23, 70, 71, 404 Surkab-Kerreri, Battle of 837-8
Suez Canal 47, 86, 251, 252, Survey of 1813 ... ... 57
255 277* 393 394 404
* *
Susa ... ... ... ••• 426
Ancient Canals... ... 395 Sushyant ... 34 2
British Government atti- Sutekh 128
tude and action 397, 399 Suten-henen . . . ... ... 98
— 1
94 2 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Suyurghatmish, Mosque of... 300 Tanut-Amen (Tandamanie) 227,
Swallow ... ... ... 58 773
Sydney, Maj. ... ... 261 Taphis 747
Syene, see Aswan. Tar ... 318
Syria ... I, 12, 219-20, 222, Tarabil 470
224, 227, 228, 241, 244, Taragmah ... 823
245, 249 250 ,
Ta-Sti 67, 722
Syrian Christians in Egypt... 290 Ta-Tenen ... 128
Syrian Monastery ... 509 Tattam, Rev. H. 510
Tattooing ... 281
Tau-aa 190
T.
Tau-aa-aa 190
Tabenna, Monastery of 612 Tau-aa-qen ... ... 190
Tablets Taui ... ... 66
Abydos 609 Ta-urt (Thoueris) ... 128, 132
Ancestors 635 Ta-usert 680
Tell aPAmarna, Cunei- “Tawfik” ... 25
form tablets from 599 Tawfik Pasha 36, 253, 254,
Tachompso ... 75 ® 261, 354, 441
Tachos (Teos, Tchehra) 230 Tawfildyah ... ... ... 846
Tadrus, Der of 403, 464 Tax on Travellers ... ... 25
Taenterert 67 Taxation 57, 73, 252, 513, 522
Tafnekhtt 225 Excessive taxation ... 359
Tahapanes 402 Reduction 358, 359-60
Taharqa, Tahrq, see Tirhakah, Sudan ... ... 782
Tahet (Dabud, Parembole) 746 Tchad, Lake... ... ... 45
Tahnah, Temple of... 593 Tchehra (Teos or Tachos) ... 230
T ahnah al Gabal
-
593 Tcheka ... .. ... 68
Tahpanhes ... 228 Tcheser 186, 213, 487, 546
Tahtah 602 Tcheser Tcheseru, Temple
-
Taifah 81 Hatshepset.
of, see
Takbir 33 i Tchonemyris (Kasr az-Zayan) 527
Takeleth II ... 196, 225 Tea ... 523
Talbot, M. ... 396 Teb 67
Talodi Fort ... 274 Tebu ... ... ... ... 67
Tamaai 792 Tef-ab, Tomb of ... ... 60
Tamai 257 Tefaba ... ... .. 215
Tamai al-Amdid 502 Tefnet ... ... ... 128
Tamanib 257 Tefnut ... 115,116, 432
Tamarisk 49 Teh-Al-Barud 388
Tambak 56 Tehnah ... ... ... 8
Tambourines... 161 Tehuti ... 69, 128, 132
Ta-mera 66 Tehuti- em-heb, Tomb of 678,
Tamut 493 680, 681
Tanen 128 Tehuti Hetep, Tomb of ... 598
Tanganyika, Lake ... 78 Tehuti-mes, see Thothmes.
Tanis (San, Raamses, Tchal Tekeleth ... ... 195, 196
Zoan) 62, 225, 402, 409, Tekeleth I and II ... ... 225
410, 424, 500-2, 578 Tekrit 245
Treaty ... ... ... 222 Telegraphs and Telephones 16, 17,
Tankasi, Pyramids of 470, 795 256, 266, 267, 270,
Tanta 69, 71, 388 273. 274, 277, 278
1
INDEX. 943
PAGE PAGE
Tell al-‘Amarna 180, 22 ] 425, Temples of Ancient Egypt
599 and the Sudan (contd.) —
Cuneiform Tablets ... 599 Eulgo 222, 792
Tell al-Kabir 255 Dush
... ... al-Kala‘a ... 528
Battle ... ... ... 41 Edfu 232, 233, 714, 715
Tell al-Maskhutah ... 408, 410 Esna ... 277,709
Tell al-Yahudiyah ... 233, 499 Garf Husen ... ... 749
Tell Dafannah, Mounds of... 402 Gebel Barkal 175,226,797-9
Tell Nabeshah ... 502 Hathor ...
... ... 486, 741
Tem or Atmu ... ... 114 Hatshepset 168, 655-7, 665,
Temai-en-Heru, Site of ... 387 667, 682, 769
Temperature... ... 32,33 Hebt 520
Mean Monthly Tables... 33 Heliopolis ... 216 ...
Templars ... ... ... 505 Heru-em-heb ...
... 718
Temple of the Jews ... ... 225 Heru-Netch-tef-f ... 742
Temples of Ancient Egypt Hibis ... 529-32. 535-6
and the Sudan 163, 168- I-em-hetep ... ... 740
76, 181-2 Iseion ... ... 708
Abu Simbel ... 175, 222, Isis 78, 741-2
759-65 Kalabshah ... 747, 748
Abydos ... ... ... 222 Kanisah... ... ... 814
Al-Khargah, Oasis of ... 229 Karnak 37, 222, 277, 621,
‘Amadah ... ... 757 63 1 43
Amarah... 790 I ^
Kasr Gaitah
... ... 526, 527
Amen ... ... 168, 814 Kasr Karun ... ... 590
Amenartas, Queen ... 651 Khensu... ... ... 632
Amen-hetep II (near Ba Khensu Nefer-hetep ... 230
Nagaa) ... ... 824 Kirshah ... 749, 751
Antaeus .. ... 601-2 Kom Ombos ... 718-20
Ari-hes-nefer ... ... 740 Kurnah ... ... ... 643
Artemis... ... 378 Kurtah ... ... ... 754
Asna (Esna) ... 277,709 Lion temple ... ... 815
Aswan Dam, effect of Luxor 37, 425, 619, 624,
.
raising . 745 625 31
Atcha-khar-Amen 746 ... Madamut ... ... 643
Behbit-al-Hajarah ... 230 Madinat Habu 37, 648-55
Bet al-Wali 175, 748, 749 Mammisi ... 718,720
Building —
Mechanical Meharrakah ... ... 755
contrivances and Menthu-hetep Neb-hept-Ra
forced labour 175, 176 168, 656, 664-6, 667
Caesar,Augustus ... 741 Mut ... ... ... 631
Canopus, temple of Nadurah ... ... 532
Serapis ... ... 385 Nagaa ... ... 824-7
Churches, use as 238, 755 Nectanebus II 740
Dakkah 232, 750, 753, 754 Nubia, Restoration of
Darius I at Khargah ... 229, temples ... 745-6
516, 518, 519 Objects and Uses 532
...
Denderah ... 613-5 Perseus ... ... 603-4

Dendur ... 749, 750, 752 Philse ... 37> 103-5,239
Der al-Bahari ... 215,219 Ptah of Memphis 486, 487,
Der al-Madinat ... 670 631
Derr 757 Rameses II 2, 608, 609, 718
—
944 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Temples of Ancient Egypt Theft (punishment) ... ... 337
and the Sudan contd ( .
)
Thekaut (Succoth) ... 68, 409
Rameses III, Great Thentkaru, Tomb ... ... 699
Temple of ... 652-5 Thent-sepeh ... ... ... 225
Ramesseum ... 645-7 Theodosius I, the Great 238, 738
Rock-hewn ... 175 ... Theodosius II ... ... 238
Sadenga 220, 772, 791 Theophilus, Patriarch of Alex-
Sa'is 388 andria ... 238, 375
Sarabit al-Khadim 570, 572 Thermometric Equivalents 9, IO
Serapis ... ... ... 239 Thes-Heru ... ... ... 67
Services... 171 - 375.385 Thetha, Tomb of ...730 ...
Sesebi ... ... 792

... Thi (Official), Tomb of ... 493
Seti I (Memnonium) 607-9 Thi (Ti), Queen 191,220-1,599
Seti (on road between
I Mummy ... ... 707
Radasiyah and Berenice) 716 Religious Views 706 ...
Sphinx ... 168, 476, 480 Tomb ... ... 683, 706
Sulb or Soleb ... 772,791 Third Cataract ... 79, 792
Sun-temple ... 481-3, 815 This 67, 70, 124, 2 12, 604
Taharqa ... ... 226 Thmuis (Tama.i al-Amdid) ... 502
Tahnah... ... ... 593 Thoth 67, 69, I 1 9, 125, 129,
Tax on Visitors ... 25 158, 163, 598
Thebes 222 Thothmes I (Tehuti-mes) 191,
Thothmes II and III 5 1 1 648 , 219, 632, 636
Tourists’ fees ... ... 265 Tomb ...
... ... 687
Wadi Halfah ... 768-70 Thothmes 191,219, 648,
II...
Wadi SabiVah ... 755, 756 657 <> 59 768-9. ,
Temu 68, 11 6, 128, 129, 418, Temples ... 511, 768-9
467 Thothmes III 1 6 1, 191,219,

Ten 67 309, 384. 546 572 594 , , .
Ten, Tomb of 61 I 631, 634, 636, 641-2,

Teni ... ... ... ... 67 657. 659, 686, 708, 718,
Tennis Courts at Helwan ... 495 743 757 789 . .
Tennis (town) ... ... 502 Glass vase ... ... 309
Tentyra or Tentyris ... 67,613 Statue ... ... 641-2
Teos (Tachos, Tchehra) ... 230 Temple... ... 768-9
Tep-ahet (Aphroditopolis) 68, 585 Tomb ... ... ... 687
Tereti 845 Thothmes IV 19 1, 220, 479,
Tet I 13, 132, 429 713
Teta ... 185, 214, 425, 485 Mummy ... ... 688
Pyramid ... 488, 489 Tomb ... 687, 688-90
Tetaki, Tomb of ... ... 682 Thoueris (Ta-urt) ... 3 28, 132
Tetka-Ra ... ... ... 546 Thuau 599, 705
Tetun, God of Nubia 128, 220 Tomb ... ... 700-6
Thais ... ... ... 232 Thuebah ... ... 323 ...
Theb- 68 Thuku or Succoth ... 68, 4 09

Thebes (or Hermonthis) 4, 49, Tiberius Caesar 136, 204, 740
67, 88, 1 16, 1 17, 124, 161, Tickets to visit Antiquities ... 26
235, 216, 217, 222, 223, Tidswell, Maj., Tomb of ... 766
230, 435 436 618-707 , ,
Time ... ... ... 11,12
Temples and Tombs 37, 162, Timsah, Lake 47, 398, 399, 402
1 66, 168, 222 Timurbugha ... ... 247, 248
Theb-neter (?) (Sebennytos) 68 Tinah... ... ... ... 398
. . —
INDEX. 945
PAGE
Tinne, Alexandrine... ... 848 Tombs (contd .
)
Tinted Spectacles 15 Beni-Hasan 594

Tirhakah (Tahrq, Taharqa) 197, Building... 163
226,641, 642, 648, 744,773 Campbell’s 481
Temple 797 Chapel or Hall of . 168
Tirikanlat (?), Pyramid of ... 821 Christian Cemetery
Tischendorf 547 564 , Oasis of Khargah 532-5
Titus Ccesar 205, 235, 236, 513 Christian Saints 167
Toads ... ... ... ... 60 Dafufah ...
793
Tobacco 12, 56, 281, 314, 337 Dahshur 182 .
Exports and Imports 265, Der al-Bahan 660, 682

. . .
267, 268, 270, 278 Drah abu‘l-Nekkah 67 s, 682

Tofrik, Action at ... 259 Gold Tomb ... 679-80
Tokar, Battle at 256, 260 Hatshepset, Queen 661-4,
Tombos, Island of ... ... 792 687
Tombs 12 E, 122 Heqab 727, 729
Aah-hetep ... 182 Her-khuf .
727-8, 729
Aahmes ... ... 600 Heru-em-heb . ... 678
Aahmes (Amasis), son of Hui 679, 682
Abana ... 712 Inscriptions 161, 181
Aahmes, son of Pen-
Iuaa and Thuau 220, 700-6
nekheb ••• 753
Aba 730 Kalaun ... 446
Aha, King 617 Kaqemna 494 ...
Ai 600, 690 Karandg... 758 - 9 ,
Aku ... 729 Karman ... 793

Al-Barshah ... 598 Kha-em-hat 678
Al-Kab ... 753-4 Khalifahs and Mamliiks 455-6
Amen-em-apt ... ... 680 Khennu-Sesu ... 729 ...
Khent 6 1 1
Amenemhat ... 679 Khnemu-hetep I 596 ...
Amen-em-heb ... ... 678 Khnemu-hetep II 595~6
Amen-her-khepesh-f ... 683 Khnemu-hetep III ... 596
Amen-hetep (priest) ... 679 Khnemu-khenu 730 ...
Amen-hetep II 309, 426, Khunes ... ... ... 729

687-8 Khuua ... ... 729 ....
Amen-hetep III ... 690 Kings, Tombs of the ... 37

Kings, Valley of Tombs
Ameni ... 594 of ... 239, 684-707
Amen-meses 693 Kom-ash-Shukafah 379-83
Amenophis IV... 600 Kubbas ..... 524 ...
Amsu (or Menu)-nekht 676, Kubbat Idris ... ... 793
677 Kubbat Salim ...
Amu-netcheh . .
677,
... 791
678 Light used by workmen 683
Antef-aqer ... 679 Mai 677, 678
Api . . ... 680 Mastabah Tombs >64, 213
Ast ... 683 Medum 583-4
Asyut, tombs near ... 601 Menna ... ... ... 679
Atet '
... 584 Mentu-her-khepesh-f 677, 699
Bai 699 Mer-en-Ptah (Meneph-
Baqet III 597 thah) 693, 694
. — 1 — —
946 INDEX.
PAGE
Tombs (
contd .
)
Tombs [contd.)
Meri-Ra ... ... 600 Seti I 690-2
Muhammad ‘Ali ... 455 Seti II 693. 695
Muhammadan Saints . . . 167 Set-nekht 695, 696
Nakadah 426 Setu 713
Nefer-hetep ... 677, 678 Shafe‘i Imam ... ... 455
Nefermaat ... ... 584 Shekh Nur At-Tayyib 844
Nefert-ari-meri-Mut ... 683 Shekh Salih 569
Nekht ... ... 674-6 Stuart’s ... 679
Neolithic Tombs 610-2 Tehuti-em-heb ... ... 678
Numbers ... ... 480 Tehuti-hetep ... 598
Osymandyas ... 64 5-7 Tell al-‘Amarna ... 600
Paheri ... 712 ... ... Ten 61 I
Pa-nehsi... ... 600 . . Tetaki ... 682

Pehsukher 677 Theban Kings of XVIIIth
Penni ... ... 758 .. and XIXth dynasties I 66
Pentu ... ... ... 600 —

Thebes Trial of Thieves 3 62
Pepi-nekht ... 727, 729 Thetha ... ... ... 730
Peta-Amen-em-apt 68 683 1 , Thi ... 220, 493, 683
Ptah-hetep ... ... 494 Thothmes I ... ... 687
Pyramids, see that title. Thothmes III ... 220, 687
Qen-Amen ... 680, 68 Thothmes IV 687, 688-90
Thuau ... ...220,700-6
of 683 Tidswell, Maj 766
Ra-hetep 585 Tools used in construction 683
Ra-men-kheper-senb ... 677 Tutu 600
Rames ... 679 Uah 680
Rameses I 690, 692 Userhat ... 679
Rameses II 692, 693 Usertsen 712
Rameses III 695, 696 Zawiyat al-Metin 593
Rameses IV 695, 697, 699 Tombs, Island of 792
Rameses VI 697, 698 Tonga 848
Rameses IX 697-9 Tools of chert 683
Rameses X 699,700 Tortoises 59
Rameses XI 699 Torture 162
Rameses XII 999,700 Toski, Battle of 260, 758, 788
Rekhmara 672-4 Tourist Steamers 24
Renna . .
7*3 Tourists, Fees paid by 265
Rock-hewn ... 222,512, Towns, Large Towns
725-30 Native Rulers ... ... 70
Sabna and Mekhu 726, 728 Population, Characteris-
Sa-Ptah... 223, 699 700 tics ... ... ... 289
Sa-Renput ... 727, 729 Trade ... ... ... 64
Sa-renput-a 729-30 Trajan ... ... 206, 236
Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi 389 Tramways ... ... 36, 419
Sebek-hetep 730 Transfiguration, Church of 562-3
Sebek -Nekht 7*3 Trask, Surg.-Capt. ... ... 790
Sen 730 Travellers ... ... ... 26
Sen-mes... 729 Egyptian view of 26, 28
Senmut ... 679 Practical Information for 1, 3,
Sen-Nefer 676, 680, 681, 12, 5 M- 5 . 542, 557 -8
699 Tax on ... ... ... 25
——
INDEX. 947
PAGE PAGE
Travelling Tutu, Tomb of. ... ... 600
Arrangements ... 2 21,
Tutun (tobacco) ... ... 56
Cost ... 2, 24 25 542,
Twelve Apostles, Chapel of 568
Coupons 2 I Two Brothers, Tale of ... 162
Season for Tylor, Mr. J. J. ... ... 71 1
Travels 6l Typhonium at Denderah ... 615

Travels of an Egyptian 57 Tyre 244
Trees 49
Triads or Trinities ... 115-6, «7 U.
Tribute from nomad tribes
of Sudan ... ... 782,783 Uah, Tomb of ... ... 680
Tribute paid to Turkey ... 363 Uah-ab-Ra (Hophra) 198,228,
Tricon, M. ••• 253 486
Tuamutef 128, 132 Uah-ankh Antef, Stele of ... 682
Tuat or Underworld I 17, lip, Uahet (Oasis) ... 537-8
20, 684-6 Uasarkena ... ... ... 225
Tiibah Tree 330 Uast (city), see Thebes.
Tuch Uast (nome) .. 67
... 574
Tud ... 708 Uatchet, Uatchit 67, 69, 129,
Tu-f ... 67 132 379 ,
Tui, queen 193 Uaua ... •

216,755
Tukh ... 610 Ud 317
Tulun, see Ibn Tulun. Uhud, Battle of 325
Tulunid Khali fahs, Dynasty of 241 ‘Ukashah (Akasha), fight at 261,
Tuman Bey 248 790
Tumblers ... 318 Ukiyah 6
Tuphium ... 708 Ukkah 6
Tur ... 557-8 Ukma 790
Tura As-Siik, Zif ... 843 Um Shaumer 556
Turah, Quarries of 495. 498 Umi River 851
Turanshah ... ... 246 Umm al-Ka‘ab 616
Turkey Umm Dabrekat 263, 779
Rule in Egypt 47, 248-9, Umm Durman, see Omdurman.
4*7, 813 Umm Gar 844
Tribute to 363 Umm Garaiart Gold Mine 62
Turkish Bath *4 Umm-Habubah 325
Turkish population of Egypt 290 Umm Hadedah 845
Turkish pound 5 Umm Rus Gold Mine 62
Turks, Anti- British propa- Umm Sha‘ban, Mosque of 300
ganda ... ... ... 291 Umm-Salmah 325
Turnips ... ... ... 52 Una 214, 490 498,
Turquoise Mines 216, 546, 553 732, 743, 755 77 1 .
Turtles ... ... ... 59 Unas .

187, 214 625 ,
Tushki or Toski, Action at... 260, Pyramid 488

758, 788 Underground Street in
Tushratta, King of Mitani 220
... Khargah . .
523
Tusun ...
#
250, 404, 454 Underworld .. I 17, I 19, 120-3,
Tut-ankh-Amen ... 221, 640 684-6
Statue ... ... ... 642 Underworld, Book of what
T ut - ankh - Amen heq Annu
- (or him who) is in ... 686
resu (?) ... ... ... 192 University of Mosque of Al-
Tuti Island ... ... ... 820 Azihar 441,443-4
2 — 1
948 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Un-nefer 129 Virgin Mary \contd.)
Unt ... 67 Holy Belt, Chapel of ... 568
Unu-Amen, Journey of l6l Well and Tree ... ... 466
Uraeus 6o, 129 Visit, Length of ... ... 1
Urban 289 Visitors ... .. 302

...
Urt-hekau 129 Vitellius 205, 235

User, Mummy pit of ... 680 Vocabulary, Arabic -English
User-en-Ra ... 481, 641 870-85
Pyramid 483-4 Vollers, Dr. .... ... ...439
Userhat, Tomb of 679, 680, 699 Vulture ... 58, 129, 429
Usertsen, Tomb of ... ... 7s Vyse, Howard 470, 476, 481,
Usertsen I 48, 187, 216, 467, 488, 490
583, 743
Temple ... 768 w.
Usertsen II 188, 216, 757, 789
Tomb 589 Wad an-Nagumi 260, 758, 841
Usertsen III ... 188 2 s 6, 496, Wad. Ba Nagaa 220, 824
743 772 ,
Wad Madani 780, 841
Fortresses ... 788 Wad Ramlah 828 ...
Stele ... 788 Wad Shabai 843 •••
Ushabtiu Figures 158, 428 Wadd 323 •••
Ushuri ••• 57 Waddington, M. 252 ...
Usr-ka-f ... 187 Wadelai ••• 853

Ut or Uahet ... ... 48 Wadi ad-Der 557 •••
Utchat 430 Wadi ‘Alaki ... ... 752

Wadi al-Ghazal, Monastery of 80
Wadi al-Homr 55 1 573 >
V. Wadi ar-Raha 557 ••
Wadi ash-Shekh 557 569 ,
Vaballathos ... ••• 237 Wadi as-Sle ... ••• 559

Valerianus 237, 375 Wadi at-Tal ... 55 1
Valley of the lions ... 755 Wadi Barak ... 569
Valley of the Tombs of the < Wadi Budrah 552
•••
Kings I 66, 219, 222, 684,,

Wadi Firan ... 553 554 ,
707 Wadi Gerrawi, Dam in 495

Valley of the Tombs of the Wadi Gharandal ••• 55 i
Queens ... 683 Wadi Habran 559

Vatican 509 Wadi Halfah 2, 12, 39, 42, 43,
Vegetables ... ... ... 51 468-70
Veil 341 Wadi Halfah-Abu Hamad
Veined and Variegated Stones 63 Railway ... ... ... 261
Vendetta in the Sinai Penin- Wadi Halfah-Kermah Line 787-8
sula 544 Wadi Hammamat 107,215,857
Verschoyle, Mr. 87 Wadi Hanak al-Lakam 552 ...
Vespasianus ... 70, 205, 235 Wadi Hawarah (Marah) 405, 551
Victoria Nile 76, 854, 855 Wadi Khamilah ... ... 569
Victoria N’yanza 76, 78, 81, Wadi Kuwesah ... ... 551
855 Wadi Leja ... ... ... 568
Vine ... 49 Wadi MagMrah Mines, etc. 62,
Vineyard of Amen ... 387 546, 552-3
Virgin Mary — ...
Wadi Mukattab 548, 549, 553

Chapel 462-3, 566 Wadi Nasb Copper Mines 572-3
. 0 —
INDEX. 949
PAGE PAGE
Wadi Natrun 48, 63, 508-1 Wells (contd.)
Wadi Ray an... ••• 44 Sun, fountain of ... 507
Wadi Sabu‘ah, Temple of 755 ,
Virgin’s Well ... ... 466
756 “ Winding Stairs ” ... 245
Wadi Salaf ... 557 Zamzam ••• 338
Wadi Samhud 515 Wells, Mr. J. ... ... 62
Wadi Shabekah 55 573 1 , Westcar Papyrus ... 157, 162
Wadi Shallal 552 Western Desert 3 8 60, 62, 63 ,
Wadi Sidr ••• 552 Western Oases Railway 5 1 4-6

Wadi Sik 569 Wheat 50, 51
Wadi Sudur ... 550 Whirling Dervishes ... ... 356
Wadi Suwik ... 569, 572 White Monastery ... ... 602
Wadi Tafah (Taphis) ... 747 White Nile ... 76, 78, 82, 843
Wadi Tayyibah 551 White Nile Province ... 780
Wadi Tumilat ... 408 Wilbour, Mr. ... ... 734
Wadi Usat ... ...
55 * Wild Animals 58
WadiWardan 55 1 Wilkinson, Sir Gardner 70, 465,
Wady Abu -Ham ad ... 555 470, 53• 655, 672 >
Wady Aleyat 555 Willcocks, Sir W. 43, 44, 45,

Waghorn, Thomas ... 405 50, 54 55 56, 76, 78
. . ,
Wakfs Administration 439 81, 84, 90 94 98, , .
Wakiilah ... 456 465, 590

Walid 293 Wilson, Mr. Rivers... ... 252
Wansleb 509 Wilson, Sir Charles... 258 •••
Warburg’s, Dr., Febrifuge Wilson, Sir Erasmus ... 384

... 14
Warburton Wind 31
... 135 Windmill Hill
Warrit or Loingwin...
... ... 459
•••845 Wine... ... 49
Water-wheel ... 53, 54, 55 Wine and Strong Drink, Pro-
Watson, Capt. ... 418 hibition by the Kur an 3 13, 336
c
Waw ...
77, 780 Wingate, Sir R. 1 68, 263, 769,
Webb, Mr. A. L. ... 98, 276 779, 801, 818, 820, 847
Weights and Measures ... 6, 7 W inlock, Mr. 535, 536, 583
Weill, M. 542, 546, 61 1, 6i6 Wodehouse, Colonel ... 260
Wekala or Khan on South Wolf 58
side of Al-Azhar Mosque 308 Wolseley, Lord 255, 41 794
1,
Wells— Women ... ... 27, 28
Abydos, entrance to the Apostasy, Punishment
other world 612. . ... for 338
Al-Huweyat 794 •
Fellalnn... IIO, 280, 281
Bir al-Ingliz ... 860 Improved Position ... 32
Cakdiil ... 257, 794 Muhammadan ... ... 347
Hammamat ... 860 Paradise, Women in ... 330
Jethro ... 557? 5^6 Women and Children, Ameri-
Joseph’s... 454 can Mission Hospital for... 391
Khargah 536 7 Wood-carving ... ... 309
Moses 405, 550 Wood, scarcity of ... ... 49
Nagaa ... ... 827 Wooden Sword ... ... 334
Nile to Matammah 794 5 Woolley, Mr. C. L. ... 758
Partridge’s 568 -
Word of Power 157, 158, 160
Rameses II ••• 752 Writing (Hieroglyphic, Cur-
Seti I ... 716 sive, etc.) 133-43
302
— ..
95 ° INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
X. Zawyet al-‘Aryan, Pyramids
of ... 470
Xerxes the Great 198, 229 Zed ibn-Thabit ... 327
Xois ... ... 217 Zedab ... 813
Zedekiah, King of Judah ... 228
Zenab 325, 339
Y. Mosque ... 453
Zenab bint-Jahsh 325
Yaghuth 323 Zeno . ...
. ... 239
Ya‘uk 323 Zenobia ... ... 237
Yazid II ... 241 Zenodotus of P'phesus
Yazid III
374
... 241 Zenubah
Year ...
... 844
... ... 155
Zikrs ... ••• 355
Divisions 50
Y el Bey ... 248 Zinzendorf, Count . . ... 420
Yemen 243 Zirs ... ... 515
Yezid (‘Abdallah ibn Zubar) Zittel... 5*2
240, 464 Zoan, see Tan is.
Young, Dr. Thomas 135. '36 Zoan, Field of 47
Yusuf, Hall of ••• 454 Zodiac 615, 709
Yusuf Pasha 256 Zoega... *35, 184
Zoological Gardens
Cairo 265, 440
Z. Khartum ... 834
Zoroastrianism 342
Zabarah, Emerald Mines of 715-7 Zuber Pasha ... 778, 828
Zahir... ... ... ... 243 Zucker, Herr ... 725
Zakazik 41, 69, 71, 392, 411 Zulu Impis ... ... 61
Zankalun ... ... ... 413 Zuma, Pyramids of . .
470 795,
Zawiyat al-Metin ... ... 593 Zummarah ... 3*8

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and guidance to their clients. Cook’s Ocean Sailing List is published
monthly, and may be had at any of their Offices.
tf/niKfK Summer and Winter cruises by specially appointed

ste amers of the P. &
O., Orient, Royal Mail,
Norddeutscher Lloyd, and other first class lines, are organised throughout the year.
Banking, exchange and Insurance.

Circular Notes and Letters of Credit issued for all parts of the World. Travellers
with Cook’s Tickets may, for small premiums, insure their baggage against loss.
Baggage and goods of every description may be stored or forwarded to any part of
the World at lowest rates.
Hotel Coupons are issued from 7/6 to 16/- per day,
lotd Coupons. available at one or more of the principal hotels in each of
the chief cities, towns, and places of tourist resort in Great Britain and on the
Continent, also in Egypt, India, Ceylon, Burma, Straits Settlements, China,
Japan, Australasia, South Africa, etc. Full particulars are given in the
Traveller’s Gazette,” 3d. monthly, by post 5d.
THOS. COOK & SON, Ludgate Circus, London

AND BRANCHES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
! .
To Tourists
^ and
Travellers.
I
INSURE against
ACCIDENTS before leaving
No troublesome formalities or delay.

Insurance Tickets Issued Instantly.
For full particulars of the very

moderate Premiums charged
AND FOR
Instances of Claims paid under
Accident Insurance Tickets,
APPLY TO
HcciOent and Guarantee

Corporation, limited. .
Head Office: Moorgate Street, London, EX.
Policies Issued at the Offices of the Corporation,

And by THOS. COOK & SON, Ludgate Circus; 99, Gracechurch Street;
99, Leadenhall Street 8 Cheapside 38 & 39, Piccadilly 2 High Street,
; 1 , ; ; 1 ,
Kensington; 13, Cockspur Street; 86 & 416, Oxford Street; 122, High
Holborn Forecourt, Charing Cross Terminus
; and Langham, Metropoie,
;
Victoria, First Avenue, Russell, Carlton, Savoy, and Grosvenor Hotels,

London and at their various Provincial Offices.
;
— —
OFFICES AND AGENCIES OF THOS. COOK & SON.

Telegraphic Addresses shown in brackets.
CHIEF OFFICE: LUDGATE CIRCUS, LONDON, E.C, [Coupon.]

LONDON BRf NCH OFFICES:
CITY. CHARING CROSS — Forecourt, Charing Cross
99, Gracechurch Street, E.C. [Tourelle] Terminus, W.C,
81, Cheapside, E.C. [Cookbook.] HOLBORN— m, High Holborn, W.C. (near British
99, Leadenhall Street, E.C. Museum).
WEST END EUSTON ROAD— In front of St. Pancras Station.
88 & 39, Piccadilly, W. [Piccatours.] N.W.
•21,High Street, Kensington. W. [Viandante.] WHITECHAPEL—i-FMIigh Street.
13, Cockspur Street, Pall Mall, S.W. [Allotments.] WOOLWICH—29, New Road.
86, Oxford Street, W. [Touravista.] HOTELS—First Avenue, Langham, Metropole,
416, Oxford Street, W. (Selfridge’s Stores.) Victoria, Carlton, Russell, Savoy and
STRAND— 378, Strand, W.C. Grosvenor.
PROVINCIAL OFFICES:
BARROW-IN-FURNESS— 61, Duke St. [Coupon.] GLOUCESTER— The Cross. [Coupon.]
BELFAST— 27, Royal Avenue. [Coupon.] HULL — Carr Lane. [Coupon.] 5,
BIRMINGHAM— Stephenson Place. [Coupon.] KILLARNEY— Main Street. (Summer only.)
64, Corporation Street.
[Emigration.] LEEDS— 55, Boar Lane. [Coupon.]
161, Soho Road,
Handsworth. [Worldwide.] LEICESTER— Gallowtree Gate. [Coupon.]
BLACKBURN— 5, Railway Road. [Coupon.] LIVERPOOL — 49, Lord Street. [Coupon.]
BOLTON— 68, Deansgate. [Coupon.] MANCHESTER— Victoria Bridge (opposite
140, Newport Street. Cathedral), [Emigration.]
BRADFORD Market Street (opposite
21, Ex- 77, Market Street. [Coupon.]
change, Tower end). [Coupon.] 85,Stretford Road.
BRIGHTON— 81, King’s Road. [Coupon. Midland Hotel. [Cook’s Midotel.
BRISTOL— 49, Corn Street. [Coupon.] NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE—2, Northumberland St.
BURNLEY—92, St. James Street. [Coupon.] (corner of New Bridge Street). [Tourist.]
CARDIFF—2, Duke Street. [Coupon.] NOTTINGHAM— 16, Clumber Street. [Coupon.]
CHELTENHAM — 365, High Street. rCoupon. 97, Derby Road.
DOVER— 14, Esplanade. [Coupon.] OLDHAM — 110, Yorkshire Street. [Coupon.]
DUBLIN— 118, Grafton Street (opposite Trinity ROCHDALE— 82, Drake Street. [Coupon.]
College). [Coupon.] SHEFFIELD —31, Fargate. [Coupon.]
EDINBURGH — 54, Princes Street. [Coupon.] SOUTHAMPTON — 32, Oxford Street. [Coupon.]
Booking Hall, Waverley Station. (Summer SUNDERLAND— 13, Fawcett Street. [Coupon.]
only. ) WALSALL — 21, Park Street. [Coupon/
GLASGOW — 83, Buchanan Street. [Coupon.] WOLVERHAMPTON— 22, Lichfield St. [Coupon.]
1, Argyle Street. YORK—38, Coney Street. [Coupon.]
CONTINENTAL AND EASTERN OFFICES:
AMSTERDAM— 83, Damrak. [Cook.] I LISBON— 52-54, Rua Aurea. [Coupon, i
Amstel Hotel. i
LUCERNE— Schwanenplatz. [Cook.]
ATHENS— Place de la Constitution. [Cook.] 1
MADRID— 30, Calle del Arenal. [Cook.]

BARCELONA — 19, Calle de Fontanella. Cook/ MALTA— 308, Strada Reale, Valetta. [Cook.
BERGEN (Norway)— [Cook, Bergenorge] (Sum- MARSEILLES llB, Rue Noailles. [Coupon.]
MENTONE —22, Avenue Felix Faure. [Coupon.
.
mer only.)
BERLIN— Weltreisebureau Union. [Reiseunion.] (Closed from May to November.)
(Correspondent only.) MILAN — 7, Via A. Manzoni. [Cook.]
BEYROUT— Near Hotel d’Orient. [Cook. MONTE CARLO— Credit Lyonnais, Avenue des
BOMBAY — 13, Esplanade Road. Coupon. L
Beaux Arts. [Coupon.] (Winter only.)
BREMEN— 36, Bahnhofstrasse. [Cook.] MONTREUX— Arcades du National, Bon Port.
BRINDISI— Strada Marina. [Cook.j [Cook.]
BRUSSELS— 41, Rue de la Madeleine. [Cook/ MUNICH— Amtliches Bayerisches Reisebureau.
CALCUTTA—9, Old Court House Street. [Coupon. i Weltreisen.] (Correspondent only.)
CANNES — 3, Rue de la Gare. [Coupon.] (Closed NAPLES— Galleria Vittoria, Via Chiatamone.
from May to November.) Cook.]
CARLSBAD— Markt. [Cook.] (Summer only.) NICE— 13, Promenade des Anglais. [Coupon.!
CHRISTIANIA— [Cook/ (Summer only.) —
PARIS 1, Place de l’Opera. [Coupon.]
COLOGNE— 1, Domhof. [Cook.] 250, Rue de Rivoli. [Cook, Rivoli.]
COLOMBO— Victoria Arcade, York St. [Coupon. 101, Avenue des Champs Elysees.
CONSTANTINOPLE— 10. Rue Cabristan. [Cook. Hotel Majestic. [Cookelis.]
COPENHAGEN — 26, Kongens Nytorv. [Cook/. RANGOON— 5, Phayre Street. [Coupon/
DRESDEN— 43, Pragersfrasse. [Coupon. ROME — 54, Piazza Esedra di Termini. [Cook ]
FLORENCE— 10, Via Tornabuoni. [Cook. IB, Piazza di Spagna, [Cook.]

FRANKFORT O/M. —28, Kaiserstrasse. Cook, SALZBURG— 7, Schwarzstrasse. [Cook.] (Sum-
Frankf ur tmain . ] mer only.)
GENEVA—90, Rue du Rhone. Cook/ SAN REMO— Via Vittorio Emanuele. [Coupon.]
GENOA— 17, 19, 21, Piazza della Meridiana, Via (Winter only.)
Cairoli. [Cook.] SHANGHAI— 2, Foochow Road. [Coupon.]
GIBR ALTAR —Waterport Street. [Cook. STRESA—28, Viale Umberto 1. [Cook.] (Summer
HAIFA— Near Hotel Carmel. [Cook.] only.)
HAMBURG— 39, Alsterdamm. [Coupon.] TRONDHJEM— [Cook.] (Open from June 15 to
HONG KONG — 16, Desvoeux Road. [Coupon. August 15.)
INNSBRUCK— 3, Margarethenplatz. [Cook/ VENICE — Piazza dei Leoncini, Piazza San Marco.
INTERLAKEN—Hoheweg. TCook.] (Summer [Cook.]
only.) VIENNA— 2, Stefansplatz. [Cook.]
JAFFA— German Colony. [Cook.] YOKOHAMA— 32, Water Street. [Coupon.]
JERUSALEM— David Street. [Cook.] ZURICH— 2, Fraumiinsterstrasse, Stadthausplatz.
LAUSANNE—16, Place St. Francois. [Cook. [Cook.]
CHIEF AMERICAN OFFICE— 245, Broadway, New York. [Coupon.]
SOUTH AND WEST AFRICAN OFFICES— CAPE TOWN, corner of Strand and St. George’s Streets.
[Coupon.] DURBAN, Smith Street. [Coupon.] ELISABETHVILLE (Lower Congo). [Coupon.]
AUSTRALASIAN OFFICES— Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Auckland, Ac.
OFFICES OF THOS. COOK & SON (EGYPT), LIMITED:
ALEXANDRIA—2, Rue Porte Rosette. [Cook.] LONDON — Ludgate Circus. [Nepthis.]
ASSUAN— Grand Assuan Hotel. LUXOR— Near VTnter Palace Hotel.
CAIRO— Near Shepheard's Hotel. [Cook.] PORT SAID — Quai Frangois Joseph. [Cook.
HALF A— Near Railway Station. [Cook.] *SUEZ— Mr. G. Mavro.
KHARTOUM — Grand Hotel. (Season only.)
Cook’s Tourist Offices are not open on Sundays or Christmas Day.
on no^n.ioV own on nnlv fni- tlio, iggnn nf
-hay W'
-rU-cL^tsk
COOKS TOURS

Cook's Handbook For Egypt and The Egyptian Sudan - Budge - E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis) - Sir - 1857-1934

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Cook's Handbook For Egypt and The Egyptian Sudan - Budge - E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis) - Sir - 1857-1934

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STUPIA IN

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A., Litt.D., D.Litt., D.Lit., F.S.A.,

OFFICES OF Alexandria Place Mohamet Ali. :

THOS. COOK & SON-< Port Said Near Continental Hotel.

(EGYPT), LIMITED: Assouan, Halfa, Ismailia, Khartoum

In the year 1886 my friend, the late Mr. J. M. Cook, asked

length, in its Eleventh Edition, The Nile fills 976 pages.

In the Introduction will be found a series of hints of a

practical nature, which have been drawn up as the result of

much experience by Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son and others,

and it is hoped that they will be as useful to tourists in the

through the country entirely to the efforts of Messrs. Thomas

officers are ever watchful to place promptly at the disposal of

unrivalled, and the advice which they supply freely on all

questions concerning travel most valuable.

religion, art, architecture, learning, etc., of the Ancient

modern regeneration and development of Egypt may find useful

the accounts of British financial policy in Egypt and of the

m the Delta and at Asyut, Esna, and Aswan during recent

tion of Egypt are found. A brief sketch of the course of

masterly Reports of Lord Cromer and Sir Eldon Gorst, and

source, Lake Victoria, to the sea. From two papers most

concerning Mahdiism and the campaigns which resulted in

In this edition are given a number of important facts con-

Arabic), and have drawn others from my work, “ The Egyptian

de VEgypte the Survey published by the Palestine Exploration

My thanks are due to Messrs. Harrison & Sons for the

and to their employes, Mr. L. Lovett and Mr. F. W. Trollet.

With the permission of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son I

monuments which it was unnecessary to re-write.

Length of Visit ... ... ... ... ... ... ... i

Parties ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2

A.D. I9II 209

Alexandria, Pompey’s Pillar, the Catacombs, Abukir, Rosetta, 3 72

Cairo continued. page

Fayyum and Lake Moeris continued . PAGE

The Temples and Tombs of Thebes continued. page

The Sudan— continued. PAGE

Alexandria ... To face p. 372

The Suez Canal ,, 393

Cairo ... ? j 414

The Nile — Delta ... j j 372

„ Cairo to Kena ... 5 ) 583

,, Kena to Aswan ... )

,, Aswan .to Wadi Halfah ... ... J) 722

„ Wadi Halfah to Khartum ... ,, 786

1450 B.c ... 571

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN.

and if another week can be spared, a visit to the Second

Cataract and Wadi Halfah, and to the temple of Rameses IT at

and it was no uncommon thing for a party to spend four or

The cost of a tour in Egypt varies according to its length

the visitor are known. From 20 s. to 30s. a day should pay

brass wire, bright-coloured articles of apparel, etc. In Egypt,

stamp or mark which guaranteed their purity or quality is

The Egyptian pound (;£E.) contains 100 piastres, and

Silver. 5-piastre piece.

Silver. 2-piastre Silver. i-piastre

Egyptian Silver and Nickel Coinage (

Nickel i-piastre piece Nickel Half-piastre

Value, one half- Value, one far-

2*77 rotls 2*19 pints 2*7513 lbs.

277 rotls 219 pints 2*7513 lbs.

Kantar = 100 rotls = 36 ukka = 9809 lbs. = 4449312 kilogrammes.